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There is a reading crisis in America's public schools, and the cause is no mystery. For decades, educators have been taught to teach reading the wrong way.
The method known as Balanced Literacy (also called whole language or sight reading) has dominated classrooms across the country. It may sound reasonable at first, but the results speak for themselves. Most children taught this way never become proficient readers. Proficient readers become independent thinkers, which may explain why some educators continue to resist the proven method.
In Oakland, California, a phonics curriculum called Open Court was producing real results. The district was the fastest-gaining urban district in the state for reading. But then, teachers pushed back, calling the structured program dehumanizing and colonialist. They replaced it with what one teacher described as a “progressive” way of teaching reading tied to social justice.
But the tide is turning. As of late 2024, forty states have passed laws championing the real science of reading, which is simply a return to phonics. Teaching children the sounds letters make, and then blending those sounds together is not complicated, but it is proven.
No state proves it better than Mississippi. Once ranked near the bottom of the country in student achievement, Mississippi made the switch to phonics, raised academic standards, gave every school a letter grade, and held back third graders who couldn't read at grade level. The results have been remarkable. Mississippi has climbed from 49th in the country on national reading tests in 2013 to a top ten state for fourth grade reading — even as scores have fallen almost everywhere else. When adjusted for poverty and student demographics, the Urban Institute ranks Mississippi number one for fourth grade reading and math.
Education elites fight these accountability measures tooth and nail. Thankfully in Mississippi the teachers' unions are weaker than in most states, so the reforms stuck. When schools focus on actual academic achievement rather than ideological agendas, children learn! And here's something worth noting: Research shows that schools excelling in reading also excel in math and science. It all starts with literacy.
Parents don't have to wait for their school districts to get it right. Phyllis Schlafly's proven phonics programs, Turbo Reader and First Reader, are available through Eagle Forum Education and Legal today! Get your copy at PhyllisSchlafly.com, that’s PhyllisSchlafly.com. Join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
