To look inside Julie Celestial’s kindergarten classroom in Long Beach is to peer into the future of reading in California. During a recent lesson, 25 kindergartners gazed at the whiteboard, trying to ...

Every child deserves rich literacy teaching. We want all the children to achieve success in their reading and writing so that they can become able and confident literate learners, well equipped for ...

Peek inside a kindergarten, first-grade, or second-grade classroom at Midland Public Schools any day of the week, and you’re guaranteed to see adorable kiddos and a flurry of activity. What you’re ...

Corrected: A previous version of this story misstated the university where Tanya Wright is an associate professor. She works at Michigan State University. Matthews, Mo. What do you do when hear a word ...

A recent New York Times article threatens to revive longstanding misconceptions about phonics. Teaching children to sound out words in a way that’s backed by science shouldn’t carry political baggage.

California Law Pushes Phonics-Based Reading Instruction for Elementary and Middle School Students California took a big step toward overhauling its reading curriculum last week when Gov. Gavin Newsom ...

[Note: In this guest post, two renowned former kindergarten teachers who wrote about the extraordinary literacy successes of children in their classrooms (Feldgus & Cardonick, 1999) show how today’s ...

Kindergarten students Gabby Kim, left, and Ellie Such answer questions on a literacy lesson during Julie Celestial's kindergarten class at Mark Twain Elementary School in Long Beach. For the record: 4 ...

4:16 p.m. June 2, 2025: An earlier version of this report incorrectly said teaching phonics was new to Long Beach Unified. Some phonics has been taught in the district for years, but a new focus on ...