Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
from Carolyn JonesCalMatters
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
California took a big step toward overhauling its reading curriculum last week when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill pushing for phonics-based instruction in elementary and middle school classrooms.
The new law provides training for school principals and reading specialists in the “science of reading,” a method of literacy instruction that focuses on vocabulary, comprehension, and pronunciation of words rather than sight word learning. The approach has led to improved reading scores in Mississippi, Louisiana and districts like Los Angeles Unified, which adopted it a few years ago.
The law also updates the state’s list of textbooks, flash cards and other classroom reading materials to align with the phonics-based approach.
The law comes on the heels of a number of other literacy initiatives, including mandatory dyslexia screening and universal transitional kindergarten. Combined, the efforts will dramatically change the way California children learn to read and hopefully lead to higher test scores, experts said.
“California has one of the best literacy policy frameworks in the country right now,” said Marshall Tuck, CEO of the advocacy group EdVoice and a former candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. “We’ve been working really hard on this and we’re excited to get to this point. Now we just have to execute it.”
After years of arguing, little opposition
The new law was passed unanimously by the legislature and met with little opposition. This is in stark contrast to previous efforts to introduce phonics into classroomswhich met with fierce opposition from advocates for English language learners and the state’s largest teachers union. English learning groups said the phonics-based approach only worked for English-proficient children; The California Teachers Association said teachers need flexibility to choose a reading program that works for their students.
But those groups threw their support behind the current bill after several changes: Reading materials would be available in languages other than English, and the use of phonics-based instruction would be optional, not mandatory. Although the state pressures all schools to adopt the new approach, some may choose to stick with their existing curriculum, which is permissible under the state’s school governance system, which leaves most decisions to local school boards.
“What does this all mean? It means we’ll see,” said Todd Collins, an organizer with the California Reading Coalition and a former member of the Palo Alto Unified school board. “But I’m hopeful. I think most school districts will get the message that they need to improve early literacy.”
The results are increasing
Collins’ group surveyed 300 California school districts in 2022 and found that 80 percent were not using a phonics-based approach to reading instruction. That’s changing, with some of the state’s largest districts adopting science reading strategies and seeing good results. Los Angeles Unified, for example, saw its English test scores jump 5.5 percentage points since adopting a phonics-based curriculum in 2022. San Francisco Unified, Fresno Unified and Long Beach Unified also saw improvements.
California reading scores are about the same as the national average, according to recent data Nation report scoresand are increasing after the pandemic. Last year, 49% of students met or exceeded the state’s standards in English — still below pre-pandemic levels, but a big increase from the previous year.
To help teachers
Among those pushing for a switch to phonetics is Rep. Blanca Rubio, D-West Covina, who co-sponsored the bill. A former elementary school teacher, Rubio hopes the new law will help both classroom teachers and students and their families.
“It’s hard for teachers to watch their kids feel defeated and disappointed,” Rubio said. “Now they will be equipped to really help their students succeed.”
She was inspired to write the bill, she said, in part because of her younger brother’s experience at school. He was wrongly placed in special education and never learned to read properly, she said, causing him to drop out of school and drop out in the ninth grade. Countless other students have had the same experience, she said.
“I know how much it means to learn to read. It can shape someone’s whole life,” Rubio said. “That’s why we stuck with it.”
Another boost to reading instruction came in June when Newsom included $200 million in the state budget to train teachers in the science of reading. The money should be enough to train every K-3 teacher in the state, Collins said. Credential programs already train future teachers in the approach.
EdVoice’s Tuck said the next step is to ensure the policy is rolled out smoothly in schools. The new curriculum is a big change for most schools and teachers will need a lot of support.
“We can celebrate today, but tomorrow we go back to work,” he said.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.