Few decisions a society makes are as consequential as how it teaches children to read. Children who can鈥檛 read proficiently by third grade are far more likely to fall behind, drop out of high school and face worse life outcomes 鈥 from lower earnings to higher incarceration rates to shorter life expectancy. This is why many academics frame literacy as being an issue of basic equity.
Yet in California, even though progressives dominate local and state government, the equity argument has long been inexplicably ignored. In 2022, Linda Darling-Hammond, State Board of Education president, said only a handful of districts 鈥 thankfully, including San Diego Unified 鈥 gave adequate emphasis to phonics, long recognized as the gold standard of reading instruction. The simple teaching method emphasizes the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language and the letters, groups of letters or syllables of the written language.
Instead 鈥 despite literally no independently verified evidence that it worked well 鈥 most schools clung to the 鈥渨hole language鈥 teaching model first introduced in the 1970s by University of Arizona education professor Kenneth S. Goodman. He believed phonics underestimated the ability of young children to absorb complex material. So he encouraged having children guess at words using pictures or context rather than learning to sound them out.
This struck a chord with many teachers in English-speaking nations around the world, who disliked what they considered the drudgery of phonics drills and welcomed an approach that put more emphasis on teachers鈥 skill at responding to individual student needs 鈥 even as reading scores kept declining. This led one of Australia鈥檚 most prominent educators to say in 2005 that 鈥渢he way we went down the road to whole language is really a story of stupidity.鈥
In 2013, the state of Mississippi figured this out, dropping whole language in favor of phonics. Over the next 11 years, it went from ranking 49th nationally in fourth-grade reading to ninth place 鈥 far ahead of California, where less than 30% of the state鈥檚 fourth-graders scored 鈥減roficient鈥 or better in last year鈥檚 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Given that Mississippi is the poorest state in the union, perhaps this finally brought clarity on the issue to the Golden State. At long last, Gov. Gavin Newsom loudly backed the 鈥渟cience of reading,鈥 teacher unions stopped defending the status quo, and, on June 5, the Assembly unanimously passed a bill requiring schools to phase in phonics-based instruction in early education.
If approved by the state Senate, as seems inevitable, all districts must use phonics beginning in 2026.
The proper response to this is not applause. It is relief that the obvious has finally been recognized. And it is anger at the fact that the California Department of Education鈥檚 1987 decision to embrace an 鈥淓nglish-Language Arts Framework鈥 built on whole language theories subjected so many state students to third-rate reading instruction 鈥 to the enduring detriment of millions.
This 鈥渟tory of stupidity鈥 hangs over a generation of state educators and political leaders.