![]() Reading scores did not improve much after balanced literacy was introduced, but they didn’t plummet, either. This understanding, and the data that supports it, has become known as the science of reading. It begins, phonics advocates say, with speech. The counterargument is that reading is as connected to hearing as it is to sight. (Hello there, though, thought, through, trough and tough!) But if you immerse children in beautiful stories, they’ll be motivated to crack the code, to recognize each word. The latter theory, sometimes known as whole language, says teaching phonics is boring and repetitive, and a large percentage of English words diverge from the rules. There are many schools of thought on how best to aid this process, but the main contretemps has been about whether kids need to be taught how to sound out words explicitly or whether, if you give them enough examples and time, they’ll figure out the patterns. This is known as the simple view of reading: it’s the product of a robust ability to decode letters, and a strong vocabulary. And after a couple of those aha moments, usually starting in first and second grade, when nicky reveals itself as nice or kahy-ef transforms into chief, the word seems to move into permanent memory. Ideally, children figure out what the letter string says at about the same moment a word they already know crystallizes into view. When those sounds are put together, they create 15,000 syllables and untold numbers of words. In all, the 26 letters of the English alphabet can be combined to make about 44 sounds (depending on your accent). For most children, however, recognizing that certain squiggles on a page or screen correspond to certain sounds requires painstaking instruction. ![]() ![]() Given enough time around other humans, the vast majority of youngsters will learn to walk upright and talk. While reading is a foundational skill, it is not a natural one. Now the most fundamental skill that society asks them to pass along is also being completely shaken up. Elementary-school teachers are already having to recalibrate after two years of disruption vicious fighting about public-health mandates as well as what kids should be taught about race and gender and a widespread parental freak-out about how little their children have learned during the pandemic. The timing for such a dramatic change feels especially challenging. And in May, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that elementary schools in the biggest district in the country would be required to adopt a phonics-based reading program. So far this year, five states have passed laws that require training for teachers in phonics-based reading techniques, adding to the 13 that passed such laws last year. His petition is part of an enormous rethink of reading instruction that is sweeping the U.S. Weaver and his co-petitioners-including civil rights, educational, and literacy groups-want schools to spend more time in the youngest grades teaching the sounds that make up words and the letters that represent those sounds.
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