Focus: Hooked on Phonics

Pendulums really do swing, especially in the world of reading instruction. And it seems like only yesterday when the whole language swing hit me.
Actually, it was in 1986. My school had just purchased a whole language book series. Two publishers’ reps came in to train our faculty. "Forget grammar and spelling," they told us. "Those tools of 'drill and kill' just turn kids off to reading." "How about phonics?" we asked. "No!" came the firm command. "Phonics obsesses with mechanics, while our kids need comprehension skills." As for the many English language learners at our school, we were told that interesting stories with lovely illustrations would soon entice them into English. The mechanics would come later.
Over the next decade, the pendulum began slowly to swing the other way. As reading scores plummeted wherever whole language had been deployed, teachers, parent activists, and many academics worked to bring the mechanics of reading back into instruction. In California, State Board of Education member Marion Joseph, horrified by the shoddy reading instruction her daughter was receiving, launched her own campaign for phonics. She and many others led the drive to write a new State Language Arts Framework, which rejected whole language in no uncertain terms, mandating solid instruction in the mechanics of reading starting in kindergarten.
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, the final swing came when the school board voted to require all schools in which the second or third grade had scored under the 50th percentile in reading on the state's norm referenced test (the Stanford 9) to choose one of three phonics intensive reading programs: Open Court, Reading Mastery, or Success for All.
Now, there is simply no way for whole language holdouts to survive in a classroom where one of these programs is instituted. The three programs are entirely scripted. The teacher's every word and direction comes directly from the teacher's editions, which are detailed and voluminous. Phonics intensive instruction takes at least 90 minutes of every morning in kindergarten, and up to three hours in first grade and beyond.
In each program, all letter sounds and many blends are covered in kindergarten. All letter sounds and blends are reviewed and mastered in first grade. Here is a brief run down of the three programs:
Open Court was created by Blouke Carus. In 1956, Blouke's son, André, was enrolled in a German kindergarten. The following year, the Carus family moved to Harvey, Illinois, and Andrea was enrolled in first grade in the local public school. Blouke was not happy with the famous "Dick and Jane" series Andre's school used, finding it deficient in explicit phonics. He developed his own reading program, and opened a primary school, catering mainly to minority students. The school was housed in the same facility as Blouke's philosophy
discussion group called Open Court, and eventually the reading program adopted the name.
Word of Open Court's success with minority children spread, and Blouke introduced it around the country. In California, the first Open Court program appeared in Orange County in 1963. In 1964, the State Board approved Open Court for adoption. The program's success caught the eye of SRA McGraw Hill, which eventually purchased Open Court.
Reading Mastery is the brainchild of Dr. Siegfried Engelmann, of the University of Oregon. Engelmann started his program, originally called "Direct Instruction", thirty years ago, as a voice in the wilderness against the growing "touchy feely" movement which would eventually adopt whole language instruction. Grainy black and white videotapes show Engelmann focusing on essential phonics with inner city children. Those children, adults today, often testify to the power over the written word that Engelmann gave them.
As his approach slowly gained acceptance, Engelmann named it "Distar", then finally Reading Mastery. As with Open Court, SRA McGraw Hill took notice, and purchased Reading Mastery.
Success for All was started by Dr. John Slavin, of John Hopkins University, with the Baltimore City schools, and is a not-for-profit foundation. It includes a phonics intensive reading program comparable to the other two programs, but is actually a total school reform program, covering all subjects and grade levels, including a family outreach component that covers such areas as attendance and conflict resolution.
A full time facilitator is required, plus varying numbers of full time tutors, so the program is much more expensive than the others. In addition, unlike the other programs, it is not on the California State Approved Adoption list, and is ineligible for state funds. Many schools pay for SFA by devoting to it all their Title I and bilingual funds, and whatever other money they have at hand, often giving up classroom aides and other services. One novel aspect of SFA is that from 2nd grade up, there is no SFA text. SFA works with whatever text the school has in place. If an SFA school uses a Harcourt Brace social studies text, then the SFA Foundation supplies a teacher guide, also scripted, specifically for use with that text. SFA has claimed, in fact, that its program can be used with either Open Court or Reading Mastery texts, though that is disputed, understandably, by trainers from those programs.
The most important difference between the three programs is their response to remediation, and the different rates at which children learn. Open Court keeps all students in their grade level classroom. There is a designated time each morning, called " Workshop", for children who are falling behind. They work in small groups with the teacher or aide. Regular classroom assessments keep the teacher apprised of student progress.
Reading Mastery uses regular assessments, called "check outs" to actually reassign students to other classrooms which may not be their grade level. A fifth grade student may end up in a first grade classroom, until the assessments indicate progress.
SFA has elementary kids making the rounds like secondary students. The grade level classroom is called "homeroom". Children go to other classrooms, often not their grade level, for reading and other subjects, according to regular assessments conducted by the SFA facilitator.
An important consideration in LA Unified, where Proposition 227 removed most native language instruction from the classroom last year, has been the effectiveness of these all English programs with ESL students. Early indications are that they are working quite well.
Teachers are reporting that the phonics techniques in these programs, which involve intense and specific focus on basic skills, and much repetition, are effective even with brand new English language learners. It may turn out that the scripted, intensive phonics approach will be the way to go for ESL instruction.
Only a handful of LA schools, about 30, are now implementing one of the three programs. The remaining 200 plus must pick a program this fall, be trained in spring and summer, and implement it in the 2000/2001 school year. A lot of people are predicting success, but the proof will be in the pudding: the next several years of test scores. Stay tuned.

Doug Lasken teaches high school English for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and is now on loan to the LA County Office of Education as a reading specialist.