In part one of this article, we detailed the many iterations that the teaching of reading has undergone before the present-day consensus that the Science of Reading—the combination of phonics, vocabulary building, and oral language development based on brain science—is an effective method of teaching reading. A 2023 study out of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education reinforced that conclusion.
The study authors found that in about 70 low-performing schools who used Science of Reading materials, there were test score gains for third graders, a population in which scores had been low. They reported that for about $1,000 per student annually, it was possible to retrain teachers and upgrade classroom materials to be better aligned with cognitive research. That amount would be considered cost-effective for most education systems.
Based on that study and others performed in academic centers that reach similar conclusions, it is particularly disappointing to note that California recently rejected a bill that would have required adherence to research-based methods of instruction in every school in the state beginning in 2025. Presently, individual school districts in the decentralized California education system can choose whatever curriculum they want. The bill would have required a new textbook that would adhere to research-based methods for teaching reading. The last textbook adoption for English language arts and development was in 2015.
AB 222, as the bill was known, died in the legislature without a hearing. It had the support of the California PTA, the state NAACP, and more than 50 other organizations, but the state’s largest teacher’s union—the California Teachers Association—claimed that the legislation would duplicate and potentially undermine current literacy initiatives, would not meet the needs of English learners, and would eliminate teachers from making decisions on curriculum. Given the dismal literacy statistics for third graders, especially in children from economically disadvantaged families, this was considered a blow. In 2023, only 43 percent of third graders met the academic standards on the state’s standardized test. Only 27 percent of Black students and 32 percent of Latino students were reading at grade level. Research shows that students who are not reading at grade level by the third grade will struggle to catch up throughout their education.
The story is different elsewhere. One state to look at is Mississippi, which in 2013 passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, recognizing that training teachers in the Science of Reading would most effectively translate the law into practice. To advance the curriculum, literacy coaches were placed in the state’s lowest performing schools. The coaches modeled how to teach lessons, plan with colleagues, and analyze data to make instructional decisions. Students were screened as early as kindergarten for reading deficiencies so interventions could start early. Six years later, the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores showed that Mississippi was the only state with significant improvement in fourth grade reading. Over the course of six years, fourth graders showed a gain of 10 points on a National Assessment of Education Progress test, or a year’s worth of advancement in reading.
The pandemic saw much of the progress stall, but at this point, Mississippi students read above average while California students are worse off than those in 2016. According to EdSource, a California-based nonprofit newsroom that focuses on equity in education, a student in Jackson now reads a quarter of a school year ahead of a similar student in Sacramento.
Since the time that Mississippi passed its statewide law, 38 other states have passed similar legislation.
Although California has taken some important steps to improve reading instruction, teachers still have the option to teach whatever curriculum their district chooses. AB 222 will be reintroduced according to the sponsors, with more input from the Teachers Association, so that differences can be resolved. But in the meantime, literacy rates do not improve.
Monterey County has taken an interesting approach that promises to fill in gaps until the state passes a new version of AB 222. It’s called Dream Big Monterey: Science of Reading Academy. Supported by a partnership with the Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) and Taylor Farms, it is enthusiastically embraced by Bruce Taylor, CEO of Taylor Farms, who has a deep interest in supporting literacy initiatives. The Academy is a great success. At the end of the 2024 academic year, 300 educators had participated in sessions on phonemic awareness, phonics, and dyslexia and fluency—all based on brain science. Participants in the Academy include teachers, primarily fourth through eighth grades, literacy coaches, reading specialists, and administrators. Afterward, MCOE deploys language and literacy coordinators in local school districts to support implementation of the strategies that the attendees of the Academy studied.
It is a visionary approach to reading instruction that other California counties could emulate. Still, the state needs to step up to the responsibility of passing and financing a statewide system that has the possibility of changing its literacy statistics to the positive, while serving the children it is mandated to educate using the best possible reading instruction model.
Here is where parents have both a responsibility and an opportunity to ensure that their children are learning how to read. Parents often assume that their children are learning essential skills just because they are in school, and yet many have no idea what curriculum their child’s school uses. Many are not familiar with the Science of Reading. It is unsurprising that parents, who entrust their children to a system of education that they believe is generally infallible, do not have the time to get involved in the details of school curricula. However, if there was ever a time to use the power of the many, it is now. While legislators weigh the best method of reintroducing the Science of Reading curriculum as a statewide standard, parents can use their voices to let these legislators know how important such a curriculum is to them.
There are other ways to get involved in helping your child learn how to read. Often parents are unaware that literacy starts long before their children begin looking at books. Just talking to infants can help them learn words and establish neural patterns that they will later use in language comprehension. And then there is the all-important reading of books with their children. That opportunity is not always available to hard working, sometimes single, parents, but even spending a few minutes a day reading helps children build vocabulary.
Above all, investigate what methods are being used to teach your children to read and, ask about the school’s test scores to discover what the literacy rate is for their grade level. If parents find that the schools are behind, they can advocate for top-level literacy instruction and embrace public policy initiatives like AB 222.
California should follow the 38 states that have decided that the Science of Reading is the key to advancing literacy. Our children deserve no less.
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