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Phonics instruction in Philadelphia’s public schools is falling short, according to Chalkbeat Philadelphia, which reported this week on a new district research review exposing significant problems with the rollout of the city’s EL Education English language arts curriculum.
The district is now in the third year of the overhaul, which carries a price tag of $25 million.
The research report, based on focus groups with more than 100 Philadelphia teachers, principals, and administrators, found that educators raised serious concerns during the curriculum’s first year.
Those concerns covered phonics instruction, limited opportunity for students to read complete books, and inadequate support for students who fall behind or arrive already behind grade level.
What the District’s Own Review Found
Most principals surveyed told researchers the EL Education curriculum represents progress. Teacher support for it is a different matter.
The report found that genuine buy-in from classroom teachers remains elusive, driven by insufficient training, conflicting guidance on district requirements, difficulty accessing lesson materials, and too little time to address foundational skills before the pacing requires moving on.
Since that first year, district officials say they have made adjustments.
Chief Academic Officer Michael Farrell stated that the district has reworked pacing, introduced flexible days for teachers to revisit material, expanded professional development, and reorganized grade-specific resources.
Additional support for kindergarten through second-grade teachers on foundational literacy was also added, he said.
Literacy Expert Flags Phonics Gap
Mary Jean Tecce DeCarlo, a clinical professor of literacy at Drexel University who works with Philadelphia teachers, told Chalkbeat that many of the problems educators described were foreseeable.
Some, like tracking down materials, tend to ease as teachers grow familiar with new content.
On phonics, however, Tecce DeCarlo was more pointed. She said the district appears to be operating under the assumption that any phonics instruction counts as adequate, which she argued is not supported by the evidence.
Her concern is that the type and quality of phonics instruction matters as much as its presence.
Reading Scores Fell After Year One
State test data released last year showed that reading proficiency among K-8 students dropped after the first year of the new curriculum. Roughly one-third of students scored proficient.
The School District of Philadelphia’s Board of Education has set a goal of more than half of students reading proficiently by 2030, meaning the district is well behind its own target.
Results from the second year of implementation are not yet available. A delay at the state level has postponed the release of those scores, district leaders said.
is already underway, with families across the region watching to see whether this third year brings measurable improvement for Philadelphia students.
EL Education’s curriculum has been recognised for building students’ background knowledge, but the phonics concern now documented in the district’s own research adds a specific challenge for district leadership to address heading into the new school year.