Nearing the end of the ‘reading wars’

It’s taken four decades, but using phonics to teach English soon could be state policy. Phonics is where kids are taught a language with a phonetic alphabet by sounding out the letters and separate syllables. Unfortunately, in many schools students still are taught “whole word” reading.” The kids are supposed to recognize a complete word, such as “incomprehensible.”

Needless to say, it’s not working.

Assembly Bill 1454 is carried by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and has the backing of the powerful California Teachers Association. It has been rewritten to allow some leeway on reading methods by local school districts if they forego state funding for reading instruction. The gist is that the California Board of Education must adopt “Evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills” that include “explicit and systematic instruction in print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition.”

“The bill gives hope that curriculum materials and teacher training finally will emphasize the phonics-based ‘science of reading,’ which overwhelming research shows is the most effective way to teach children to read,” Lance Izumi told us; he’s the senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute. He warned “the devil will be in the implementation details” because many school districts still use whole-word methods.

The whole-word detour sparked parents taking up the task themselves by buying such programs as Hooked on Phonics. And the experiment sure hasn’t helped California’s reading scores. On the 2024 California Smarter Balanced test, overall just 47% of students met or exceeded the state reading standard. That was a decline from 2019’s pre-pandemic 49.1%.

AB 1454 passed unanimously in the full Assembly and in the Senate Appropriations Committee. We urge quick passage in the full Senate. After that, Gov. Gavin Newsom should sign it. Let’s hope the bill permanently ends what since the 1990s has been called the “reading wars.” Put aside the contrived pedagogy and just teach the kids how to read.

Izumi urged parents to be vigilant and fight to put pro-phonics advocates on local school boards, and to make sure the science of reading is used in classrooms.

At the very least, people in California should know how to read. The ability to read helps broaden the ability to think. And we all know this state is in desperate need of some critical thinking.