But their remedies do not cure the disease: they merely prolong it.
Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man under Socialism”
Indeed, their remedies are part of the disease.
The current Reading War, the “science of reading” (SOR) movement, fits into the accountability era of education reform spurred by A Nation at Risk.
The reform paradigm includes rhetoric of “crisis” and “miracle,” and the reform itself tends to be legislation-based and in-school only with the focus of reform centered on students, teachers, curriculum/standards, tests, and instruction.
The SOR reform movement is essentially conservative (a subset of the accountability era best represented by education reform under George W. Bush [Texas, NCLB] and Jeb Bush [Florida]) and another “bad teacher” narrative.
Since the SOR movement has successfully prompted state-level reading legislation across the US, the consequences of highly prescriptive mandates and bans are being witnessed, notably the increase of structured literacy programs that are scripted curriculum.
The most troubling irony of the SOR movement and the resulting legislation is that despite claims among SOR advocates that the reading crisis disproportionately impacts minoritized and marginalized students (a historical fact of all aspects of education in the US for over a century), evidence is showing SOR-based mandates and programs are even worse for that very population, or as Oscar Wilde eloquently puts it, “their remedies are part of the disease.”
Consider the following posts and also recent research and analyses addressing how SOR is failing social justice and equity goals for the students who need that most:
My Posts and Scholarship
Thomas, P.L. (2023). The “Science of Reading,” Education Faddism, and the Failure to Honor the Intellectual Lives of All Children: On Deficit Lenses and Ignoring Class and Race Stereotyping. Voices in the Middle, 30(3), 17-21. https://library.ncte.org/journals/vm/issues/v30-3/32439
Orange: Teaching Reading not Simply Black-and-White
Does the “Science of Reading” Fulfill Social Justice, Equity Goals in Education? (pt. 1)
America Dishonors MLK By Refusing to Act on Call for Direct Action (pt. 2)
Research
Teaching Phonemic and Phonological Awareness to Children Who Speak African American English
Lessons in (In)Equity: An Evaluation of Cultural Responsiveness in Elementary ELA Curriculum
Amanda Rigell, Arianna Banack, Amy Maples, Judson Laughter, Amy Broemmel, Nora Vines & Jennifer Jordan (2022) Overwhelming whiteness: a critical analysis of race in a scripted reading curriculum, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 54:6, 852-870. 10.1080/00220272.2022.2030803
“Whatever You Want to Call It”: Science of Reading Mythologies in the Education Reform Movement, Elena Aydarova, Harvard Educational Review (2023) 93 (4): 556–581. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-93.4.556
dr. p.l. (paul) thomas 