A teacher at an elementary school in Hutchinson, Minnesota, with over 28 years of experience, is pushing for reform. The veteran teacher feels she has failed her students by teaching them how to read without understanding the cognitive science behind it. She is not alone; almost 20 states have pushed for reform over the past couple of years. The movement for a change in this aspect of the education system has drawn support from multiple political parties, as well as across economic and racial lines. It also includes parents of children with dyslexia, civil rights activists in the NAACP, lawmakers, and teachers and principals.
The fight does not occur without reason; one-third of America’s children cannot read at a basic comprehension level according to a recent national exam, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Mervosh states that this holds true, especially for Black and Native American children, half of whom scored below basic by eighth grade. Compared to 2019, the percentages of white students, female students, and students attending public schools who reached the NAEP basic level decreased in 2022. That percentage also decreased for both students eligible and not eligible for the National School Lunch Program. Overall, 37 percent of fourth graders performed below minimum standards on the exam. These statistics show that there is a problem with the way that children are taught how to read, given that children across various backgrounds are all performing poorly on this proficiency test.
Dr. Fountas and Dr. Pinnell (researchers and co-authors of several books relating to reading, writing, and phonics for classroom use) used grants, donations, and Covid relief money to fund a phonics curriculum. They also incorporated 40 minutes of targeted small-group phonics at the end of each day. This curriculum benefited countless schools including Panther Valley Elementary School, a rural low-income school in Eastern Pennsylvania. They also incorporated 40 minutes of targeted small-group phonics at the end of each day. This approach has done wonders for the students; nearly 60 percent of third graders are proficient in decoding words, up from 30 percent at the start of the school year.
The issue does not have much of a correlation with family income status; Former teacher Ms. McGahee observed that during Zoom lessons during the pandemic, parents in her affluent, predominantly suburb questioned the lack of explicit education their children received. In response to the issue, literacy expert professor Lucy Calkins rewrote her entire curriculum to further embrace phonics and center the teaching methods around the science behind it. Initially, Professor Calkins focused less on sounding out words and instead asked her elementary school students to pick out books at their respective reading levels and read them out loud. Now, she indulges her kindergarten students in daily-structured phonics lessons. She uses special books and assessments to track students’ progress with decoding letters. Professor Calkins also replaced light-reading tasks with more rigorous material including arctic exploration, deep sea rivers in South Korea, and the architecture and culture of Islam.
Of course, progress doesn’t happen naturally. When Mississippi saw improved reading scores in 2019, it was perceived as a miracle. However, Mervosh states that progress took many years to come. Literacy coaches were sent to the state’s lowest-performing schools. Jack Silva, the chief academic officer in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, declared, “I don’t want the science of reading to be the shiny object-look here, look here. You forget the hard work that it takes to implement.”
Overall, examples have shown that for many years, teachers, principals, and parents were not aware of how to properly teach children how to read. It wasn’t uncommon for children to be at a literacy level that is below the standard for their grade level. However, as the issue became more noticeable in the past two years, parents, teachers, and school administrators have been taking action. The solution found was a focus on phonics more than any other aspect of reading. With this approach, as well as enough patience and dedication, schools like the Panther Valley Elementary School have been able to improve the quality of education for their students. Since almost half of the states in the United States have pushed for this change, it is highly likely that students will see more phonics instruction in the classroom which will result in higher test scores in decades to come. This will lead to more students doing well in high school and thriving in college. Future generations to come will be much better prepared for the workforce, and the United States will improve as a whole.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Dana. “In the Fight over How to Teach Reading, This Guru Makes a Major Retreat.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/22/us/reading-teaching-curriculum-phonics.html.
Mervosh, Sarah. “’Kids Can’t Read’: The Revolt That Is Taking on the Education Establishment.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/us/science-of-reading-literacy-parents.html.
“NAEP Report Card: Reading.” The Nation’s Report Card, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/nation/achievement/?grade=4.
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