Millions of children struggle to read, schools from New York to California are returning to phonics in a mad dash to fix the country’s reading problems.
“For centuries, many reading reforms have gone in and out of fashion,” wrote Dr. Phyllis Rand, a lifelong proponent of phonics. Rand‘s work as an education administrator and writer includes developing instructional materials for Abeka, a publisher of homeschooling curriculum.
Relying on an intensive phonics approach since its inception in 1972, Abeka is known for its successful reading program — a program that‘s seen only slight changes in the decades since its founding.
This steadfast commitment to phonics is in stark contrast to many U.S. school districts that now find themselves in the shadows of failed reading programs. These programs are most often the result of unproven — yet trendy — reading instruction like “balanced literacy,” “whole language” and “look-say.”
A recent reading assessment released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), reported nearly
40% of fourth graders performed below what‘s considered a basic reading level by the NAEP in 2022.
This marks the largest number of states/jurisdictions with score declines in fourth-grade reading since the NAEP‘s initial assessment in 1992.
Equally discouraging are the 66% of fourth graders who failed to achieve proficiency, while in California 69% fell short of proficiency.
According to RealClearEducation(RCED), a publication focused on global education news and commentary, COVID should shoulder some of the blame for America‘s reading woes, but it‘s far from the main culprit.
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), along with subsequent investigative news reports, cite “balanced literacy” — an oft-used approach to reading — as a leading contributor to the country‘s current reading failures.
The New York Times describes “balanced literacy” as a reading instruction that coaches “children to guess difficult words by using pictures and the first letter, instead of sounding out the entire word from beginning to end.”
While a picture is worth a thousand words, it‘s proven to be worth much less when it comes to actually reading the words.
Only now, after decades of failure, are schools beginning to change how children learn to read. The New York Times reported, over the past five years, more than 40 states have passed laws that aim to revamp literacy instruction. Many are turning to phonics.
According to Abeka, with phonics, young students are able to read a large number of words early, quickly and accurately by learning to decode letter-sound relationships and patterns.
Reading fluency at an early age is the big gain in all of this. First, it frees children to devote time and energy to developing comprehension of the words they‘re reading. Soon, they‘ll be reading to learn.
How early should children start learning phonics? Abeka homeschooling curriculum introduces children to basic phonics concepts as 3-year-olds, prior to officially learning to read. Brain science supports early literacy too. As cited by a PBS documentary on early brain development, a child‘s brain is already 80% developed by age 3, and it reaches 90% of its adult size by age 5.
The science is clear:
little ones learn big.
And while detractors worry phonics is too structured and tedious for young children, its success is proven. Like all teaching methods and instruction, how teachers approach phonics is key. Abeka‘s curriculum uses learning games, colorful flashcards, engaging readers, teaching charts and visuals to introduce young children to reading.
Plus, phonics can be reinforced across all areas of instruction, not just reading. For instance, As early as K4 and K5, Abeka‘s kindergarten handwriting books correlate with basic phonics to help young children learn and review letter-sound patterns as they practice correct writing formation.
“The brain is optimally flexible and plastic early in life, but as it refines its circuitry, it loses some of its flexibility which is why intervening early is so important,” says Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff, director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. “When it comes to brain circuitry, it‘s better to get it right the first time than to try to fix it later.”
After all, the young child‘s brain is ready and willing to read — as willing as it‘ll ever be.