They didn't. It's a urban myth propagated by companies selling programs to "fix" dyslexia. Your school teaches phonics.

Few get tenure, conference invitations, and best-selling books for producing "research" saying that some old boring traditional method was effective.

For all of you with young kids, you are now in a return swing to phonics. Yes, schools did stop teaching phonics and focused on "whole language" for many years. Your anecdote does not make you an education expert. Do a little research (and also be grateful that folks are recognizing that many children need phonics).

Anonymous wrote:My K’er is definitely practicing phonics, among other strategies, while learning to read this year. This is in DCPS.

+1

My kid had lots of phonics instruction K-2 in DCPS. DCPS definitely has not stopped teaching phonics.

My 5 yo currently attending Fcps DL kindergarten learns phonic in class daily.

I think schools are pressured to ‘cheat’ standardized tests (and rankings) by having kids memorizing sight words “reading” at the expense of long term kids education. It also hides kids with disabilities instead of giving them actual prolonged decoding instruction.

I wish we could get away from all or nothing grade level progression so that kids can continue to learn material at their own pace without the stigma of ‘being held back.’ Then perhaps schools would focus more on overall knowledge enrichment instead of teaching to tests.

Anonymous wrote:Why does anything in education change?

Test scores are less than perfect. Someone in charge (who hasn't been in a classroom in years if ever) comes up with some program/methodology to try to fix it. Finds research to back up their desires. Forces everyone in their domain to implement this new change.

5 years later, test scores still aren't perfect, new person is in charge, so new program comes in.

I've taught for 10 years and this is my 3rd set of standards and curriculum.

This. Teacher here and this is it. Test scores don't improve fast enough so districts jump ship and buy the "next best thing" in order to show improvement. It doesn't necessarily mean it will. That's why people send their kids to Catholic schools. They stick with what works. My son's Catholic school phonics looks similar to what I did in public school in MD in the early 80s. If it ain't broke....

NP we taught our kids phonics before they went to K. I feel like it helped them immensely. It wasn't difficult, expensive or time consuming- maybe 15 min a day for a few months? My kids wanted to learn how to read, so that was the program I chose.

My K’er is definitely practicing phonics, among other strategies, while learning to read this year. This is in DCPS.

Read the book, “The Knowledge Gap”. It gets into it.

As a teacher who does a full phonics lesson with my class every day, I can tell you that this is not every school. Some schools subscribe to the “balanced literacy” model which focuses on exposure to different styles of texts and genres, but is supposed to be accompanied by a phonics program. I think some schools decide not to pay for the programs. Teachers can’t magic up a phonics program, as they’re highly structured and research based. They’re expensive, but very effective. Teaching phonics is the most satisfying part of the day. I work with kids with learning disabilities who really struggle to read and I’ve seen all of them make tremendous progress.

This question has a long & political history. Valerie Strauss had an interesting guest column for someone proposing an alternative to both phonics & whole language. The discussion does a pretty good job of summarizing the debate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/03/27/case-why-both-sides-reading-wars-debate-are-wrong-proposed-solution/

Why does anything in education change?

Test scores are less than perfect. Someone in charge (who hasn't been in a classroom in years if ever) comes up with some program/methodology to try to fix it. Finds research to back up their desires. Forces everyone in their domain to implement this new change.

5 years later, test scores still aren't perfect, new person is in charge, so new program comes in.

I've taught for 10 years and this is my 3rd set of standards and curriculum.

That is just not true. My DS has had a huge emphasis in kindergarten and first grade on phonics.

This is an honest question. I read these forums and there is a ton of complaining about the new style of teaching kids to read that doesn't require phonics. No one ever talks about why this switch happened and I am very curious to know what the thinking is behind it. I've even googled the topic and get a bunch of articles about how the new style works poorly, but still no explanation of why it's being used. I have an infant so I haven't experienced this yet as a parent and it does seem like a very bizarre change.