California reading reforms spur better math

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

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Last year, after decades of often bitter debate, California took an important step to raising the appalling levels of reading ability among many public school students.

The Legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who struggles with dyslexia, signed a law that promotes phonics in teaching reading of elementary school students.

He did not reach a phonics mandate that would be fully justified, to assuage opposition from educators who still cling to discredited methods such as “whole language.”

rather Assembly Bill 1454 requires the state to provide teacher training and instructional materials centered on phonics, or “the science of reading,” as we use its current name. This will still allow local schools and their teachers to use other methods.

The Legislature and Newsom acted when California children’s low reading skills, as determined by national tests, became too obvious to ignore.

Reading comprehension among fourth graders in California is ranked 37th^th among states in 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Only 29 percent of students in the state demonstrated proficiency, down two percentage points from 2022.

Raising reading achievement is vital because it is the precursor to all other forms of learning. Thus, California’s low reading rates may be partially responsible for the state’s equally unacceptably low math rankings; only 39% of fourth graders were proficient.

That’s why a new effort to improve math skills through legislation is — or at least should be — high on the Capitol’s to-do list. State Senator Dr. Aquila Weber PearsonDemocrat of San Diego, introduced Senate Bill 1067supported by education reformers who supported the sound recording bill.

SB 1067 would require local school districts to screen elementary school students for difficulties in math skills as a first step in a statewide effort to upgrade instruction and comprehension.

“California faces a real and urgent crisis in math achievement, and we cannot afford to wait until students are already behind to act,” Sen. EdSource saideducation website that first revealed the new effort. “We know that the math achievement gap is evident as early as kindergarten. We also know that students who miss basic math skills in grades K through 2 rarely catch up.”

Weber Pearson comes from his interest in improving education in a natural way. Her mother, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, was a staunch defender of no-nonsense education while serving in the Legislature, often clashing with the state’s education establishment—even the powerful California Teachers Association.

Weber grew up the daughter of a slave laborer in heavily segregated Arkansas, but moved to California with her family in 1951, earned a doctorate and was a college teacher before running for the legislature.

“I’m not afraid that I’m going to be lynched at night or that someone’s going to blow up my house. I’m not afraid of that,” Weber told CalMatters in a 2017 profile. “What my predecessors stood for and fought for was much more difficult than what I am fighting for today.”

Strangely, Southern states have recently been most active in admitting their educational shortcomings. Mississippi’s success in improving reading skills has inspired other states to improve reading. Meanwhile, Alabama has done the same for math skills, starting with screening students to find those at risk of failure, as EdSource notes.

Weber Pearson’s bill would run afoul of the math in the same way. The State Board of Education will appoint a group to develop a list of screening tools that will lead to statewide adoption of the screening.

“Screening is the right first step because you can’t effectively address a problem you haven’t identified,” Weber Pearson told EdSource.

This is a process that California should adopt for all of its persistent problems, not the messy approach that officials tend to take.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.