Too many children in California cannot read. Will Phoninic help?

From Denise AmmosCalmness

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

At a minimum, schools should teach children to read. But for years, the primary schools in California have failed many of them.

The results are so obvious that even those who struggle to read can see them: nearly 6 in 10 third graders inserted below the level of class On the reading of California in the biggest part of the last decade. This includes about three-quarter students from black or Latin American students with lower income.

Meanwhile, a The conflict with decades of raging Among the teachers in California and the defenders of equity on how to teach reading. To put it simply, they fought over phonika, the 17th-century system for sounding letters and words. The reading technique was beneficial to most American schools in the 1980s, but now it is being returned.

Parents, defenders and teachers call on the state to return to the teaching of the phonics of all children as a reading basis. Some have raised problems with racial capital, which seemed to throw away a group of children with insufficient service against another.

Groups supporting black students, such as the NAACP State, called on a move to Phonic. But other groups supporting English and bilingual students wanted to preserve the current, flexible state instructions system that included other disciplines that also help children take English.

The result: inertia and stagnant test results. California ranked 40 last year in reading fourth grade national tests. For black fourth graders, California tied up for the last With only 7% experienced, and for Latin American students she was tied to the 24th place with a 19% specialist.

This is not just an academic problem. Children who do not read up to fourth grade are four times more sick to drop out of high school. We know what’s next.

When the California Assembly passed a Bill last week accepts the so -called “Read Science“The literacy approach that emphasizes phonika was a sign of progress. More than 40 states have taken similar measures, but California was one of the last detainees. It is now next to the Gavin News government.

It shouldn’t take that long time.

So far, most of the California areas have used one of a handful of instructions reading systems. Most of all, they encouraged students to recognize words by memorizing or guessing words based on the context of a sentence or photos illustrating the text.

This works for some young readers, but for many others the system has been hiding their struggles. The young people could look as if they were learning to read, even though they weren’t. In the short degrees, when there are no photos or too many unfamiliar words to remember, these readers would break down and their reading problems would impede training in other academic subjects.

It’s on California Reading a crisisS But even with this new bill, the state does not move far enough, fast enough.

The bill progresses phonics and other skills such as understanding and reading fluid, but its acceptance is only voluntary. The state will only encourage school districts and teachers to upgrade their reading instructions rather than its impositionS

It was the compromise needed to pass the measure, Bill’s supporters said. Two similar attempts to make it mandatory Failed in previous sessionsAfter opposing the teaching unions and some educational groups.

“It’s a matter of civil rights that requires emergency action and collective actions.”

Marshall here, CEO of Edvoice

This is where the risk lies. Without a mandate that determines the deadlines, it is difficult to predict how widespread the reading science will be and how quickly it can be held.

Louisiana and Mississippi, two states, which are not known as academic fronts, have experienced meteoric increases in reading test results several years after the adoption of such literacy systems. Mississippi moved from 49 In the fourth grade nation in 2013 to ninth in 2024. Louisiana jumped From last place in 2019 to 16 last year.

Both countries have made their science of reading training mandatory and required areas to accept related instructions.

California is trying to lure the funding areas. NEWSOM has provided $ 200 million to pay teachers as part of several literacy initiatives that he advertised during a recent press conference. The Assembly has just accepted a budget proposal that includes funding.

Read more: The Crusade of Marion Joseph’s literacy to teach sound recordings in California is paid

“This is not just rhetoric; there are $ 200 million to strengthen this reason,” Newsom said.

Also, some of these plans, all the most jerk elementary students in California will be reviewed to read problems starting this fall, and Newsom has promised to spend $ 500 million on sending literacy coaches and professionals to hundreds of schools in the state.

This certainly sounds good, but as always, tracking will determine whether it is political or progress.

The areas will need more support because many may not be ready to switch. Schools will have to take the account for new books and study materials. Many areas have no such money. Some deal with their own budget deficits and make casualties including dismissalS

This will make a great commitment. At least the resources will need state aid provided to it. And the state has to do some of the work early by checking the growing list of reading programs offered in the areas, so millions of more dollars are not lost on curricula and materials that do not move reading results.

Some school districts have already begun to move to a more convenient curriculum, including Oklland, San Francisco and Los Angeles Unified.

Antoine Taylor, the competence coordinator of the Los Angeles University Quarter, has offered a look at how reading science can look in schools. Of the about 20 students in his hours, half are at different stages of learning to speak English. He calculates that he spent about 30 minutes daily working in small groups, much of it for sound, spelling and learning words.

He said he folded it into daily reading sessions, but continues to practice other skills, such as reading aloud, asking students questions about texts and to make bilingual students talk and demonstrate understanding.

Other teachers, when exposed to phonika, will also embrace it, he predicts – as long as they receive the training and the books and consumables they need.

“Most of the teachers in the field are aware of the reading science,” says Taylor, who teaches 28 years. “Most teachers want their students to do better.”

California schools are cut off for them, teaching about 3 million students from low -income families and 1.1 million English students.

Fonika supporters are optimistic teachers in California will be receptive, although it will still take years before we see changes, at least in the test results.

As Marshall said here, Edvoice CEO: “We have one of the largest gaps between high-income children and low-income children in the country. This is a matter of civil rights that requires emergency action and collective actions.”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.