New York needs to get back to the basics when it comes to teaching kids how to read, Gov. Kathy Hochul says.
The Governor announced Wednesday that she wants to ditch the trendy “whole language” method of teaching English and get back to drilling kids on phonics and reading comprehension.
“Despite the best efforts, it’s showing that it’s not working anymore,” Hochul said of the state’s new reading plan, dubbed “Back to Basics,” at an elementary school in Watervliet, NY.
“I think every child should have the best shot in life, the best shot to learn how to read, the best shot to become completely literate by the time they leave school.”
The whole language approach teaches children to read entire words and try to understand their meaning within context. Proponents of whole language thought that by battering kids with words again and again, they would pick up the meaning within context. The children’s series “Dick and Jane” being a prime example.
Phonics teaches by piecing together or decoding parts of words to connect them together and understand their meaning, but that style was ditched by mainstream educators in the early 2000’s.
“About 20 years ago, they thought ‘it’s whole different way of learning, why don’t we just put kids in a room with books and they’ll figure it out?’ Do you think that’s very smart?,” Hochul asked the audience at her announcement, which included some fourth graders in the front row.
“No,” one tot retorted.
A growing swath of researchers and activist organizations agree with the fourth grader.
An NAACP chapter has gone as far as petitioning Oakland, Ca. schools, demanding they teach traditional based phonics, framing it as a civil rights issue, citing disproportionately lower literacy rates amongst Black, Latino and Asian American Pacific Islander students.
“It’s not just science, it’s common sense,” Hochul said.
The Governor’s proposal is backed by the powerful state teacher’s union, school administrators, and the New York State Parent Teachers Association.
“These policies are not merely the results of the latest fad,” NYSUT President Melinda Parsons said. “I want to be really clear about this. This is the result of decades of research, brain science information from 10s of 1000s of studies, that is driving us toward this change in instructional practice.”
“NYS PTA is excited that Governor Hochul is supporting our great educators, schools, families and children in this important work,” New York PTA President Helen Hoffman wrote in a statement. “The science of reading instruction has certainly changed over the years, and with this new infusion of resources, support for the important work classroom teachers do each day will be expanded.
The proposed state legislation builds off a sweeping overhaul of elementary literacy instruction rolled out by the Adams’ administration in half of the Big Apple’s school districts in May last year.
The program known as NYC Reads requires city schools to choose between three sets of approved curriculums which focus on phonics in reading education for elementary school students.
“New York City has begun doing this and is learning that implementation requires buy-in from teachers and principals,” Nicole Brownstein a spokesperson for NYC Public Schools told the Post.
“[The Governor] is also right in her attempt to require teacher training programs at SUNY and CUNY to emphasize reading instruction that has been proven to be effective.”
Speaking anonymously to the Post a Long Island mom of two elementary school students and a special education high school teacher in literacy intervention told the Post while she overwhelmingly supports the proposal she foresees some hurdles.
“I think for the new teachers that aren’t locked into a routine this will be an easy transition,” she said.
“For those that have been teaching for 20 years and came up and saw success for half of their students over the years with the Teachers College Reading program this will be a difficult transition.”
“But those are the ones that need it the most. They need to realize that most of their students struggle to learn to read and this will be a good thing.”
There are 685 school districts in the state, not including New York City.
Ray Domanico, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, told the Post that it’s important that the state education department “works to build support in those districts for the new approach.”
“Yes, money for training will help, but it is critical for the state to be open about which programs they will approve and why they are choosing those programs,” he said.
“Even under the best of circumstances, this will take more than a single year, but the state should require districts to begin the effort and to demonstrate yearly progress.”
Domanico added that the details of the legislation will make all the difference, specifically how the state will ensure that every district is using “evidence-based practices” and how they’ll police those who don’t demonstrate compliance.
The governor said she plans to include her plan in her state budget proposal which is due later this month. If it’s included in the state budget, it would direct the state department of education to craft regulations for schools to implement into their curriculums. Hochul said she wants schools to adopt the changes by 2025.