Topline:<\/p>\n
The law comes on the heels of a host of other literacy initiatives, including mandatory dyslexia screening and universal transitional kindergarten.<\/p>\n
About the new law: The new law<\/a> provides training for school principals and reading specialists in the \u201cscience of reading,\u201d a method of literacy instruction focused on vocabulary, comprehension and sounding words out rather than learning words by sight. The approach has led to improved reading scores in Mississippi, Louisiana and districts like Los Angeles Unified, which adopted it several years ago.<\/p>\n Why it matters: The law comes on the heels of a host of other literacy initiatives, including mandatory dyslexia screening and universal transitional kindergarten. Combined, the efforts will dramatically reshape the way children in California learn to read and hopefully lead to higher test scores, experts said.<\/p>\n Read on… why the new law passed with little opposition after years of controversy.<\/p>\n California took a big step toward overhauling its reading curriculum last week when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill pushing for phonics-based instruction in elementary and middle school classrooms.<\/p>\n The new law<\/a> provides training for school principals and reading specialists in the \u201cscience of reading,\u201d a method of literacy instruction focused on vocabulary, comprehension and sounding words out rather than learning words by sight. The approach has led to improved reading scores in Mississippi, Louisiana and districts like Los Angeles Unified, which adopted it several years ago.<\/p>\n The law also updates the state\u2019s list of textbooks, flash cards and other classroom reading materials to align with a phonics-based approach.<\/p>\n The law comes on the heels of a host of other literacy initiatives, including mandatory dyslexia screening and universal transitional kindergarten. Combined, the efforts will dramatically reshape the way children in California learn to read and hopefully lead to higher test scores, experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia has one of the best literacy policy frameworks in the country right now,\u201d said Marshall Tuck, chief executive of the advocacy group EdVoice and a former candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. \u201cWe worked very hard on this and we\u2019re thrilled to get to this point. Now we just have to see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n After years of controversy, little opposition<\/p>\n The new law passed the Legislature unanimously and had little opposition. That\u2019s in stark contrast to previous efforts to bring phonics to classrooms<\/a>, which met steep resistance from English learner advocates and the state\u2019s largest teachers union. English learner groups said that a phonics-based approach only works for children who are fluent in English; the California Teachers Association said teachers need flexibility to pick a reading program that works for their students.<\/p>\n But those groups threw their support behind the current bill after a few changes: Reading materials will be available in languages other than English, and using phonics-based instruction will be optional, not mandatory. Although the state is pushing all schools<\/a> to adopt the new approach, some may choose to stay with their existing curriculum, which is permissible under the state\u2019s school governance system that leaves most decisions up to local school boards.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does this all mean? It means we\u2019ll see,\u201d said Todd Collins, an organizer of the California Reading Coalition and former Palo Alto Unified school board member. \u201cBut I\u2019m hopeful. I think most school districts will get the message that they need to improve early literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Scores inching up<\/p>\n Collins\u2019 group surveyed 300 California school districts in 2022 and found that 80% were not using a phonics-based approach to reading instruction. That\u2019s changing, with some of the state\u2019s largest districts adopting science-of-reading strategies and seeing good results. Los Angeles Unified, for example, saw its English language arts test scores jump 5.5 percentage points since it adopted a phonics-based curriculum in 2022. San Francisco Unified, Fresno Unified and Long Beach Unified have also seen improvements.<\/p>\n California\u2019s reading scores are about the same as the national average, according to the latest Nation\u2019s Report Card scores<\/a>, and have been inching up since the pandemic. Last year, 49% of students met or exceeded the state\u2019s English language arts standards \u2014 still below pre-pandemic levels but a big increase<\/a> from the previous year.<\/p>\n Helping teachers<\/p>\n Among those who\u2019ve pushed for the switch to phonics is Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina who co-authored the bill. A former elementary teacher, Rubio hopes the new law will help classroom teachers as much as students and their families.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard for teachers to see their kids feel defeated and frustrated,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cNow they\u2019ll be equipped to really help their students succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n She was inspired to author the bill, she said, in part because of her younger brother\u2019s experience in school. He was wrongly placed in special education and never properly learned to read, she said, leading him to disengage from school and drop out in ninth grade. Countless other students have had the same experience, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how much it means to learn to read. It can shape someone\u2019s whole life,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we stuck with this.\u201d<\/p>\n Another boost to reading instruction came in June, when Newsom included $200 million in the state budget to train teachers in the science of reading. The money should be enough to train every K-3 teacher in the state, Collins said. Credential programs are already training future teachers in the approach.<\/p>\n Tuck, of EdVoice, said the next step is ensuring the policy rolls out smoothly in schools. The new curriculum is a major shift for most schools, and teachers will need plenty of support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can celebrate today, but tomorrow it\u2019s back to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline: The law comes on the heels of a host of other literacy initiatives, including mandatory dyslexia screening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-15607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}