More states mandate phonics-based Science of Reading!

[healthy11]

currently.att.yahoo.com/news/evidence-clear-ohio-gov-pushes-121500107.html

Ohio could soon join the rush of states requiring schools to use the “Science of Reading” in all its classrooms by fall 2024 — going even further than many states by banning other literacy approaches that have lost credibility.

Currently, state law allows districts to teach reading however they want. Under his proposed bill, Gov. Mike DeWine would force them to pick only phonics-based Science of Reading materials from a list the Ohio Department of Education will create.

Dewine has also asked the state legislature to ban use of any “three cueing” materials or lessons — an approach considered the foundation of popular teaching methods known as Whole Language, Balanced Literacy or, particularly in Ohio, Reading Recovery...

...In the last 10 years, more than half of all states have passed laws encouraging or incorporating Science of Reading in classrooms...Arkansas and Louisiana have already banned schools from using any of the methods based on three-cueing...officials in eight other states are joining Ohio in seeking similar bans, according to Tom Greene, national legislative director for ExcelinEd in Action, the education advocacy group created by former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.

Legislation has been filed in Indiana (SB 402), New Hampshire (HB 437), Florida (SB 758), West Virginia (SB 274), and Texas (HB 2162) with bills expected soon in Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina outlawing three-cueing, he said.

“Eliminating three cueing is a strong step in the right direction to ensure all kids are proficient readers by the end of the third grade,” Greene said. “These state leaders are looking at the research, hearing personal stories of struggling readers and listening to the concerns of teachers about the harmful effects of this approach.”

The article does point out some hurdles that have to be overcome, stating that “many” teachers are not trained in the Science of Reading. (It's unclear if colleges and universities are revising their programs accordingly.)

[healthy11]

Additionally, see currently.att.yahoo.com/news/winning-the-reading-wars-is-just-the-first-step-212427425.html

Among other things, it says, ..."Debates about the best method of reading instruction have been around for decades, with the main faultline being disagreement over how much time should be spent on the basics of letter sounds — phonics — versus time dedicated to less regimented exploration of words and their meanings. One area of agreement is that reading instruction in the U.S. is not good enough. In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic set students even further behind, only a third of American fourth graders met reading proficiency standards. The numbers were even worse for low-income and minority students.

In the past several decades, one of the most popular methods of teaching students to read has been through Balanced Literacy, an approach that deemphasises phonics and focuses on creating opportunities for students to organically learn to read through exposure to words alongside context clues like pictures. This strategy relies heavily on a philosophy known as Whole Language reading, which is based on the idea that reading — like speaking — is a naturally occurring skill that children will develop if they are given enough time to explore books on their own and are provided the right cues from their teachers.

There is substantial — many would argue definitive — research that the Whole Language approach simply doesn’t work. In 2000, a comprehensive government review of more than 100,000 reading studies found that any effective reading curriculum must include​​"explicit instruction in phonemic awareness.” This view has been bolstered by advances in neuroscience, which have found that focusing on letter-sound relationships triggers parts of the brain that are wired for reading."

[healthy11]

news.stanford.edu/2015/05/28/reading-brain-phonics-052815/ discusses a Stanford neuroscience/ brain wave study that shows how different teaching methods affect reading development. Stanford Professor Bruce McCandliss found that beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading.

...Words learned through the letter-sound instruction elicited neural activity biased toward the left side of the brain, which encompasses visual and language regions. In contrast, words learned via whole-word association showed activity biased toward right hemisphere processing.

McCandliss noted that this strong left hemisphere engagement during early word recognition is a hallmark of skilled readers, and is characteristically lacking in children and adults who are struggling with reading...

[healthy11]

www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-19/la-ed-the-science-of-reading-works-right-here-right-now-so-lets-use-it