A Clunky Compromise, but Finally Some Progress in Sacto on Teaching Kids to Read

Legislative leaders and education advocates hash out an 11th hour measure that will enable schools to deploy the "science of reading" - as long as they're careful not to call it that. Sheesh.

By Cheri Rae

The State of California has shamefully lagged behind all but a handful of states that have adopted reading instruction standards and practices based in science - but lawmakers in Sacramento finally are beginning to catch up.

Except: it’s all optional, and no one has to say the words “science of reading.”

That’s the takeaway to emerge from the latest jumble, muddle, tangle and wrangle of politicians and special interests setting education policy in the state.

Thanks to the combined efforts of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and longtime literacy advocates and Assembly Members Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), a brand-new literacy bill, AB 1454, was hammered out and passed unanimously in the Assembly’s Education Committee on April 30, the last day possible for consideration.

The new legislation, AB 1454, contains many of the science of reading provisions featured in literacy bills previously sponsored by Rubio — including last session’s AB 2222 that never got out of committee, and this session’s stalled AB 1121 that is now moot. These previous bills were supported by numerous organizations including California NAACP, Decoding Dyslexia, Ed Voice, Families in Schools.

Notably, they were opposed by the California Teachers Association and English learner advocates.

What’s in the bill. A last-minute compromise was reached when the mandatory provision was reduced to voluntary, and language referring to the “science of reading” and “structured literacy” was eliminated; the CTA and English-learner advocates then gave their support.

The bill was hastily put together, but its basic provisions include:

1. State-provided, evidence-based professional development for teachers;

2. State-provided, evidence-based instructional materials that include addressing the needs of English-learners;

3. Instructional materials that will be "evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills," in alignment with the previously passed legislation on teacher performance and the dyslexia guidelines.

4. Provisions to be voluntary, not mandatory.

A critical factor: State funding for professional development.

“Assuming we get the adequate funding, money will be apportioned to all districts involuntarily, for the explicit purpose of paying for professional development on foundational reading,” noted Megan Potente, Co-State Director of Decoding Dyslexia-CA. “If a district chooses not to enroll teachers in the professional development, they must return the money. Also, if a district has already trained their K-5 teachers, they can use the money for reading professional development for grades 6-12."

So districts will be able—but not required—to use state-provided materials based on the science of reading, and offer professional development based on the science of reading, but they won’t be calling it that.

Instead, they’ll be referring to the component parts of evidence-based literacy instruction — which include developing skills in print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency — to all pupils, including tiered supports for pupils with reading difficulties, English learners, and pupils with exceptional needs.

Oy.

A personal word. This kind of dancing around the issue at the core of a political battle— that kids cannot read because they are not taught to read — hits home for me in the most personal of ways.

Nothing in my years of parenting was more unexpected or frustrating than the endless semesters of fighting the school district just to teach my own child to read.

Nothing in my decades as a literacy advocate, working with other parents, has been more heartbreaking than to learn first-hand of their struggles with the schools for their children. They have been ignored, blamed, and treated as if they are undeserving of being taught the fundamental academic skills they are entitled to in order to reach their full potential.

Nothing in my academic background in political science prepared me for this bitter battle among political entities over the issue of teaching children to read.

It should transcend political parties, ideology and special interests, so that all sides share moral culpability for the never-ending fight that denies children the fundamental right to read.

And nothing makes me question the empathy of others more than when community members choose not to believe the reality that half our kids struggle to read proficiently because they are not taught properly. As the old adage goes, “It shouldn’t have to happen to you for it to matter to you.”

A call to action. Alas none of this is new: Way back in 1955, when Rudolf Flesch wrote the bestseller, Why Johnny Can’t Read, he preached that phonics-based instruction was superior to what was then called “whole language” instruction.

Twenty-five years later he wrote the sequel Why Johnny Still Can’t Read: A New Look at the Scandal in our Schools. And here we are, 70 years after he identified the issue, still fighting over phonics.

I can’t help but think that it’s time to change the terms of engagement. Instead of hammering out endless legislative efforts in faraway boardrooms, or bureaucratic fiefdoms, why can’t we work together at the community level to admit, identify the issues and actually come up with solutions to teaching our children to read?

Why aren’t we sitting together in productive, positive, results-oriented conversation about greatly improving our literacy levels?

I say it’s time to come together to apply compassion, knowledge of best practices, a sense of community pride, and a bit of righteous indignation to gather together to give our kids the right to read they so deserve.

Cheri Rae is the director of The Dyslexia Project, a member of the Santa Barbara Reading Coalition www.sbreads.org, and the author of DyslexiaLand: A Field Guide for Parents of Children with Dyslexia. You can reach her at TheDyslexiaProject@gmail.com.

Read more of her work about literacy, including collaborations with writing partner Monie de Wit, in Newsmakers’ matchless archive:

New Battle Over Reading: Will Special Interests Get It Right This Time? April 9, 2025.

Dispatch from DyslexiaLand: The Ongoing Struggle for the Right to Read. Oct. 8 2024.

SB County Advances on Literacy Reform - but California Teachers Union Tanks Statewide Bill. April 21, 2024.

Amid Pomp, Circumstance and Commencement Celebrations, Half the Class of ‘23 Can’t Read. June 17, 2023.

First Person: Awaiting Action from Sacramento, An Advocate’s Glimpse of Dyslexia in the Classroom. April 17, 2023.

Pigs Fly: SBUSD Leaders Finally Pivot from Balanced Literacy to Science of Reading. March 21, 2023.

Reading: A Rite of Passage - and a Human Right. Jan. 4, 2023.

SB County’s 50% Student Proficienct in Reading is a Scandal - and What We Can Do About It. May 25, 2022.

With His New Book, Governor Newsom Hits a Home Run as a Dyslexia Advocate. Dec. 11, 2021.

Literacy Denial: As the Climate Changes on Reading Instruction, We Must Respect the Science. Sept. 25, 2021.

SB School Board Race Sheds More Heat than Light about Creating a Culture of Literacy. Oct. 31, 2020.