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law. From

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the center for investigative reporting in PRX,

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this is Reveal. I'm outlets

0:24

in. Guide dogs lead very

0:26

interesting lies. For ten or twelve

0:28

years, they are in charge

0:30

of

0:31

guiding, of flying person. This

0:33

is a recording from the US Department

0:35

of Education They give a reading

0:37

test every two years to a sample of

0:39

kids.

0:40

Most guide dogs are born at a

0:42

channel.

0:43

This is a fourth grader who did

0:45

well on the test. Reading a passage

0:47

about guide dogs.

0:48

The dogs train in large goods

0:50

for about three months. But

0:52

most kids, Don't do well on

0:54

this test. Dogs are

0:59

A third of fourth graders sound

1:01

more like this. Chuck, dogs

1:07

lead very interesting.

1:14

This child struggles with words that

1:16

are key to understanding what's going on.

1:19

Words like guide and blind.

1:22

About ten

1:24

percent to

1:28

do this job.

1:30

In the US, one out of every

1:32

three kids in the fourth grade reads like

1:34

this. How did that happen?

1:37

This week, we're teaming up again with the investigative

1:40

reporting group at American Public

1:42

Media. APM reporter

1:44

Emily Hanford has spent years

1:47

digging into why so many kids can't

1:49

read. In the new podcast,

1:51

Soul of the story, she offers an answer.

1:54

Cognitive sciences have figured

1:57

out how children learn to read,

1:59

but that science has struggled to get traction

2:01

in schools because many

2:03

teachers believe in something else.

2:06

They've been sold an idea about how kids

2:08

learn to read, and that idea

2:11

is wrong. Here's Emily.

2:15

In the years I've been reporting on reading,

2:17

I've heard the same story from

2:19

lots of

2:20

parents. Okay.

2:23

So we're recording. Okay.

2:25

I'm Karen Adams. I live in South

2:27

Kingston, Rhode Island. I have two

2:29

kids. Six and

2:31

two, boy and a girl. Her

2:33

son is the older one. His name is

2:35

Charlie. When she sent him off

2:37

to kindergarten in the fall of twenty nineteen,

2:40

Karen had no concerns. One

2:42

of the reasons she and her husband had moved

2:44

to South Kingsdown is everyone told

2:47

them the schools were great. She

2:49

had no idea how her son's school was

2:51

teaching reading. Who thinks

2:53

about

2:54

that?

2:55

I don't know how to teach a child how to read, so

2:57

I just assumed that the children I sent

2:59

to school would come back to me literate

3:01

because that's what school does. Right?

3:07

At first, everything seemed fine.

3:10

Charlie would come home with these little books,

3:12

the same book every day for a week,

3:14

and he'd practice that book and send it back, and

3:16

that's what we did. There were directions

3:19

for the parents about how to read these books

3:21

with their

3:21

children. It was like read the book to the child

3:23

first, and then eventually,

3:26

the child will have practice it enough that they'll read

3:28

it and it'll be great, you know. And

3:30

he would listen to me read pay very

3:32

close attention to what I was saying, repeat

3:35

that. And if

3:36

it was a new book, mommy, you read it to me first.

3:39

Charlie wasn't interested in trying

3:41

to read books. She hadn't already read

3:43

to him. New books like freaked him out.

3:45

He didn't wanna do that. She was a

3:47

little concerned, maybe he was just

3:49

memorizing the books. They were

3:51

pretty simple stories with predictable patterns.sentences

3:55

like I like to play with a train.

3:58

I like to play with my dog. Charlie

4:00

was able to read these

4:02

books, but was he really reading?

4:04

She was ensure. But the

4:06

school said he was doing great. They

4:09

were telling me he was doing fine. They were telling

4:11

me he was on level, When

4:13

Charlie did well on something in school,

4:15

the teacher would send home a little

4:16

note, and he would get them all the time for

4:19

like great reading. He would get him in

4:21

his old backpack, and I'd be like, oh, you're doing so great.

4:24

And then March of twenty

4:26

twenty, the pandemic. Suddenly,

4:29

Karin was in kindergarten too,

4:32

watching as Charlie and his classmates

4:34

were being taught over Zoom.

4:36

So we sit together and I

4:38

participate. You know, I help him make sure he can

4:40

unmute himself and all that

4:42

stuff. Corinne's stay at home mom.

4:44

She wasn't juggling online school with another

4:46

job. So she was watching pretty

4:48

closely. And the reading

4:50

instructions seemed kind of odd

4:53

to her. They gave us like

4:55

these strategies to follow.

4:58

These were things kids were supposed to do

5:00

when they came to a word they didn't know.

5:03

Strategies to figure out the word.

5:05

They were things like look at the picture.

5:08

Look at the first letter of the word. Think of

5:10

a word that makes sense. Karin

5:12

wanted to tell Charlie to sound out the

5:14

word. But handouts coming

5:17

from school were telling her that wasn't

5:19

a good idea. That sounding out

5:21

words should be a last resort.

5:23

So I was like, okay. Well, this is a new different

5:26

way, and I'm sure they understand what they're doing.

5:28

Because I do remember sounding out.

5:30

I do remember that activity. But

5:33

Charlie and his classmates were being taught

5:35

to use these other strategies.

5:38

We're gonna look at our book Zelda and Ivy

5:41

The Runways. This is a video, Charlie's

5:43

teacher had her students watch during Zoom

5:45

school in first grade. It's not

5:47

Charlie's teacher in the

5:48

video, but it's lesson from the curriculum

5:51

the school district was using.

5:52

I'm gonna read a little bit of this story to

5:54

you and If I get stuck on a word,

5:57

I want you to try to help me figure

5:59

out what that word could be. The

6:01

teacher reads the story. The kids can

6:03

see the words on the screen. They're following along

6:06

as she

6:06

reads. And then the teacher comes to

6:08

a word that she's covered up with a little yellow

6:10

sticky note.

6:11

Okay. So we're gonna saw right here on this

6:13

covered word and the teacher says,

6:16

what could this word be? Let's look at the picture.

6:18

We're gonna see if the picture helps

6:21

us to figure out what that word would

6:23

be.

6:24

The kids can't see the word. It's covered

6:26

with the sticky note, so there's no way

6:29

they can sound it out. They're just

6:31

trying to figure out what the word could

6:33

be based on what's going on in the

6:35

story. If we think about what's happening

6:37

so far in the story, we know Zelda and Ivy's

6:39

dad made q number sandwiches for lunch.

6:42

And Zelda and Ivy didn't want to

6:44

eat the sandwiches, so they ran away.

6:47

And now they think their mom and dad

6:49

will

6:51

will what? Triple check ins.

6:53

Zelda and Ivy ran away

6:55

And now they think their mom and dad will

6:58

scold them. Find

7:00

them. Do

7:00

you think that covered word could be the word miss?

7:04

Miss them.

7:05

Could it be the word miss? Because now

7:07

that they're gone, maybe their parents will miss

7:09

them? The teacher asks

7:11

kids to think about whether miss

7:13

could be the

7:14

word, using the

7:15

strategies they've been taught. Let's

7:17

do our triple check and see. Does it

7:19

make sense? Does

7:22

it sound right? How

7:24

about the last part of our triple check does

7:26

it look right? Let's uncover the word

7:28

and see if it looks right. The

7:30

teacher lifts up the sticky note

7:32

and indeed the word is

7:34

miss. It looks right

7:37

to good a very

7:39

good job. Go ahead and click

7:41

on the next slide, so you can

7:43

practice this strategy on

7:45

our next part of our story.

7:49

This seemed weird to Corinne.

7:52

Why have kids guessed the word?

7:54

Why not have them look at the word

7:56

and try to actually read

7:58

it? And I said to my son's teacher,

8:00

I was like, this isn't how we learned

8:02

how to read. Like, meaning me and her,

8:04

And I just, like, kept, like, nagging at me,

8:06

like, in the back of my mind, like, this isn't how

8:09

we did it right. Like, this can't be right. Right?

8:12

What made it all weirder is that

8:14

the kids were actually being taught some

8:16

things about how to sound out words.

8:19

The teacher did some phonics lessons.

8:22

But when it came to reading books,

8:24

all that instruction seemed to go out

8:26

the window. The books the kids

8:28

were supposed to read had all kinds

8:30

of words with spelling

8:32

patterns, they hadn't been taught. So,

8:35

for example, they were giving him,

8:37

oh, it was at Christmas time, and it was from

8:39

the book Chicken Soup with Rice, and it's like,

8:41

in December, I will be a bobbled, banged,

8:43

Christmas tree. And

8:46

they wanted him to read that. I

8:48

just was like, how how

8:51

it's possible Corinne would have just brushed

8:53

all this off. Whatever, he'll figure

8:55

it out. The school says he's doing fine.

8:58

But she also had to give Charlie a reading

9:01

assessment at

9:02

home. Not something a parent would normally

9:04

be asked to do, but this was COVID.

9:06

And I wasn't allowed to read it to him first and

9:08

I couldn't help him in any way. I just I could

9:10

point to the words for him and not was that

9:12

he had to read it. She gave him the test.

9:15

They're sitting in their

9:16

kitchen. Charlie's two year old sister

9:18

is playing in the background. And Charlie

9:20

has to read a book called how

9:22

things move. How

9:25

things move. This

9:27

is that reading assessment. Karin recorded

9:30

it. Here's

9:36

the sentence Charlie is trying to

9:38

read. This toy moves

9:40

when you push

9:41

it. There's a picture in the book

9:43

of a girl pushing a truck. You

9:53

You know, Charlie is

9:55

grasping for straws. He has

9:58

no idea how to read most of

10:00

the words in this

10:00

book. Some of the words he is

10:02

saying are not even on the page.

10:04

Blah. Blah.

10:08

It

10:08

was just like, eye

10:10

popping and I went into

10:12

my bedroom and cried.

10:20

And

10:20

then she went to her computer and she started

10:22

googling. What was this way

10:24

that her kid was being taught how to read?

10:27

And she found some of the articles and documentaries

10:30

I had written.

10:31

That's

10:32

when it was like a realization that what

10:34

is

10:34

happening. Oh my god. What's

10:36

happening?

10:38

She tried talking to some other parents,

10:40

and they kinda looked at me like I was insane.

10:43

Their kids were doing fine or so

10:45

they thought. Because that's what Corinne had

10:47

thought

10:48

too. Then she started posting

10:50

about her experience on Twitter. There

10:53

were parents who were like, oh my god.

10:56

Like, this is my

10:57

kid. This is happening to me. Like, this is happening

10:59

to me and I'm in Chicago or I'm in California or

11:01

I'm in wherever else.

11:07

It didn't seem like they were really teaching them to

11:09

read. This is one of those parents.

11:11

Seemed like they were teaching them to

11:13

sound like they could read. I contacted

11:16

this parent after I saw his post

11:18

on Twitter. His name is

11:20

Lee Gall. He lives on the upper

11:22

east side of Manhattan. We're

11:27

picking Lee's daughter up from school.

11:30

Her name is Zoe, and she's just about to

11:32

finish first grade. She goes

11:34

to the public school that's few blocks from

11:36

their apartment.

11:37

Alright. I'm supposed to meet Catherine

11:39

in the in the middle circle

11:41

in Grande

11:42

Park. Oh, so you already got planned? That's good.

11:45

It's a gorgeous spring day. And we're

11:47

on our way to the park around the corner from Zoey's

11:50

school. The park is full

11:52

of kids and parents and nannies.

11:54

The sprinklers are on, the children are running

11:56

around. We're in one of the richest

11:59

zip codes in the United States. ZOE

12:01

GOES TO A SCHOOL WITH A GREAT

12:03

REPUTATION, BUT SHE WASN'T

12:06

LEARNING TO READ. LI

12:08

SAYS IF HE HADN'T SEEN FOR HIMSELF, HOW

12:10

READING WAS BEING TOT AT HER

12:12

SCHOOL? HE MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT ZOE

12:14

HAD A DISABILITY. WE PROBABLY WOULD

12:16

BE LIKE OKAY LET'S GET HER SOME

12:19

HELP. LET'S TAKE HER TO you know,

12:21

counselors and psychologists

12:23

and hearing experts and seeing experts

12:25

and figure all this stuff out. But when Zoe

12:28

was doing remote learning, he saw

12:30

how the school was teaching reading. They

12:32

were using the same curriculum as Charlie's

12:35

school. Lee decided

12:37

to teach Zoe himself.

12:40

So so why don't you come over here for a second?

12:42

Let's look at the SIOM stuff that we

12:44

did before. We're in their apartment.

12:46

It's a tiny one bedroom. Lee is

12:48

showing me some of the materials he used

12:50

to teach Zoe how to read.

12:53

So this is SI0N,

12:55

and we did TI0N before.

12:58

So I've looked at this word. What is this

13:00

word? Addition.

13:04

Yeah. That's

13:05

right.

13:07

What is this word? When Lee

13:09

decided he was gonna teach Zoe to read,

13:11

he scoured the internet for resources,

13:14

taught her some things about how to sound out

13:16

words, and got what are known

13:18

as decodable books

13:21

Do you remember what it felt like the first time

13:23

we read a decodable book?

13:27

Yeah. It was kind of hard

13:29

Yeah. A decodable is

13:31

a book with words that have spelling patterns

13:34

a child has been

13:35

taught, so she can try to read

13:37

the words. She doesn't have to guess

13:39

them. And we started

13:41

reading that book. You I said,

13:43

hey, have decodable book. I want you to read it. And

13:46

let's try and reading it. And you're like, okay, okay, and

13:48

we started reading it. And I had to stop

13:50

you after fifty four pages because

13:53

you read fifty four pages of it.

13:55

You remember that? Mhmm. Yeah.

13:58

I think both of us were kind of blown away. Right?

14:00

It's like the best.

14:04

There. Yeah. It was so fun to

14:06

read. That wasn't it? Yeah.

14:08

Yeah. Do you have any books you

14:10

can read to me now? What are you reading? I'm

14:13

reading the

14:15

zombie diaries. They're really

14:18

fun. We

14:19

read a little bit to me. How do you feel about that?

14:21

Yeah. You wanna

14:24

go grab it really quick?

14:25

Yeah. Okay.

14:26

Stay.

14:26

I'll stay here. I'm just getting up so you can Get

14:29

by. Zoe Scooches

14:31

past her dad across their apartment to

14:33

her bedroom, and then she's back

14:35

with her book. This is

14:37

book

14:37

one book two, and she

14:39

starts reading. I decided

14:42

to walk Shelley

14:45

to school today. One

14:48

thing about Shelley is that

14:51

she really waits

14:53

scaling. Okay.

14:56

Really likes to talk.

14:59

Zoe is still learning. But

15:01

at the end of first grade, she's clearly

15:03

on her way to becoming a good reader.

15:06

Kids who are not on this path by

15:09

the end of first grade rarely catch

15:11

up. Zoe didn't

15:13

get off to a good start with reading, and

15:15

then her dad swooped in and

15:17

changed that.

15:18

I shuddered a think what would be if

15:20

I hadn't been home all this time and seeing it,

15:22

you know. Right. Squide

15:27

squid. Squid.

15:33

Zoe was lucky and Charlie was

15:36

too. Because his mom, Corinne,

15:38

did exactly what Lee did. After

15:41

that disastrous reading assessment when

15:43

she realized Charlie had no idea how

15:45

to read the words, She decided to

15:47

teach him herself. She went to the Internet,

15:50

she bought books, and he learned

15:52

pretty easily. Which tells

15:54

you that Charlie wasn't struggling

15:56

because he has a reading

15:57

disability. He was struggling

16:00

because he wasn't being taught. That's

16:02

like such a messed up way to have a public school

16:04

system in this country. Public

16:06

schools should be like this sacred trust.

16:08

I'm gonna give you my child and you're gonna teach him

16:11

how to read. And that shattered

16:13

for me. That was broken.

16:20

Two thirds of fourth graders in the US

16:22

are not proficient readers. In

16:24

fact, scores on reading tests

16:26

have been terrible for decades. The

16:29

problem is even worse when you look beyond

16:31

the average and focus on specific

16:33

groups of children. The most alarming

16:36

statistic eighty three percent

16:38

of Black Fourth graders don't read proficiently.

16:42

Coming up, the story of where some of

16:44

these ideas about how kids learn to

16:46

read came

16:47

from. You could tell them to look

16:49

at the first letter and it'll pop out

16:51

of your head. If you're looking at the picture as

16:53

well, you know, look at the first letter, it'll pop

16:55

out. That's next. On

16:57

reveal.

17:10

I know I know it's hard. You wait all

17:12

week for this podcast and then

17:14

it's over. And you find yourself wanting

17:16

more. Let me

17:18

make a recommendation. The

17:21

Reveal newsletter. It goes behind

17:23

the means into how we make and report

17:25

these stories. Subscribe now

17:27

at reveal news dot org slash

17:29

newsletter. From

17:34

the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX,

17:37

this is Reveal. I'm outlets

17:41

There's an idea about how children

17:43

learn to read that is everywhere

17:46

in schools. Teachers learn about

17:48

it in training programs. It's in their

17:50

curriculum materials. The idea

17:52

is this, beginning readers don't

17:54

need to sound out words. They can,

17:57

but they don't have to because there are

17:59

other ways of figuring out what words

18:01

say. Reporter: reporter Emily

18:03

Hanford, and her colleagues from the

18:05

American public media podcast sold

18:08

a story have been digging into

18:10

where that idea comes from. And

18:12

what's wrong with it.

18:19

Before the nineteen sixties in a lot of

18:21

English speaking countries, there were basically

18:24

two different approaches to teaching children

18:26

to

18:26

read.

18:26

Let's read the pat pat the fat cat

18:29

this is pat.

18:32

There was the phonics approach where beginning

18:34

readers were taught how to sound out words and

18:36

then practice in books like this. Cat

18:39

is a

18:42

cat. The other approach

18:45

to teaching reading was known as the whole

18:47

word method. Come here,

18:49

Dick. Come and see

18:51

puff. Dick and Jane Brooks

18:53

were the whole word

18:54

method. See puff play. C

18:57

puff jump. C puff

18:59

jump and

19:00

play. In a Dick and Jane book,

19:02

the idea was not for children to

19:04

sound out the words. The

19:07

idea was for them to see the same words

19:09

over and over again and memorize

19:11

them. Store words kind

19:14

of like pictures in their mind. In

19:17

New Zealand, Dick and Jane were

19:19

known as Janet and John. Same

19:21

kind of books. Same idea about

19:23

how kids learned to read. But

19:25

by the early nineteen sixties, New

19:27

Zealand had done away with the Janet and JohnBooks.

19:31

New Zealand had gotten rid of phonics instruction

19:33

too because there was

19:35

a new idea. The new

19:37

idea was that beginning readers shouldn't

19:40

be focusing on learning to read

19:42

words. They should be focusing

19:44

on getting meaning from what they were reading.

19:47

So the New Zealand government started to attributing

19:50

a new kind of beginning reading book to

19:52

schools. They were known as The

19:54

LittleBooks. The pay show,

19:57

This is a boy reading one of those little books.

19:59

It's called the pet show. This

20:01

is the day the pets come to school, a

20:04

lamb comes to school, a cat comes

20:06

to school, These books sound

20:08

a lot like Dick and Jane, but there's

20:10

a key difference. The vocabulary

20:13

in these books isn't limited to simple

20:15

words like puff, and play.

20:18

There are words with difficult spelling

20:20

patterns, words like lamb

20:22

and calf and William. Mary

20:25

comes with the calf Kenny

20:27

comes with pig. William, the goat

20:29

will not come. There are pictures

20:31

in the books to help kids figure out the

20:33

words. But the basic idea

20:35

is that getting meaning from the story is

20:38

more important than getting the words right.

20:40

And that if kids focus on understanding what

20:43

they're reading, they'll figure out what the

20:45

words

20:45

say. Come

20:46

here, William. They shouted.

20:48

This new approach to teaching reading

20:51

was called the Book experience approach

20:53

in New Zealand. In the United

20:55

States, it came to be known as

20:57

whole language. Not to

20:59

be confused with the whole word method.

21:02

Whole language was basically the idea

21:05

that learning to read is easier

21:07

for kids and more interesting

21:09

if they start with whole stories, whole

21:11

sentences, not individual words.

21:14

Whole language essentially said if

21:16

we create in a literacy rich

21:18

environment that is highly

21:20

motivating and provides the right sort

21:23

of materials that children will

21:25

figure out how reading

21:26

works. This is Mark Seidenberg.

21:29

He's a cognitive neuroscientist at the

21:31

University of Wisconsin whose study's reading.

21:34

He says the core belief in whole language

21:36

is that learning to read is like learning

21:39

to

21:39

talk, that it happens naturally

21:41

through exposure to books. The essential

21:44

idea is basically learned by doing.

21:46

So children are supposed to learn by

21:48

doing, not be told what to do.

21:51

There'll be a minimum of instruction because

21:53

kids will just figure it out as

21:55

long as the environment is supportive.

21:58

But some kids were not figuring

22:00

it out. A researcher named

22:02

Maury Clay wanted to figure out

22:04

why. Maury Clay died

22:06

in two thousand and seven. Back

22:08

in nineteen ninety

22:09

nine, she told a radio interviewer

22:12

that she wanted to help children who

22:14

were struggling.

22:15

In my idea when I started

22:17

my special research here in New Zealand, was

22:19

good. Could you see the process of learning to

22:21

read going

22:22

wrong? It was nineteen sixty

22:24

three. The same year, schools in New Zealand

22:27

started using those new little books.

22:30

Clay identified one hundred children

22:32

in Auckland in their first year of

22:34

school, and she observed them for

22:36

an entire year. I went into classrooms.

22:39

I recorded exactly what children were

22:41

saying and doing. And

22:43

this gave me new insights for building

22:47

almost a new theory

22:49

of how our children were learning to read.

22:53

Her basic idea was that good

22:55

readers are good problem solvers.

22:58

According to Clay's theory, when

23:00

good readers come to a word they don't know,

23:02

they ask themselves good questions.

23:05

Like, what word would make sense here?

23:08

For example, if a girl in a story

23:10

is getting ready to ride a horse and she puts

23:12

something on her horse that starts with an

23:14

s, The word must be

23:16

settle. Clay

23:18

also noticed there are things good readers

23:21

don't do. They don't laboriously

23:23

sound out words. She

23:26

concluded that good readers use

23:28

the letters and words in an incidental

23:30

way. She thought they'd just skim

23:33

the letters to confirm they're getting the meaning

23:35

of what they're reading. And their

23:37

last resort when figuring out a word

23:39

is to sound it out. This

23:43

was Clay's theory of how good

23:45

readers read, The theory she

23:47

came up with while observing children trying

23:49

to read those little books. She

23:51

didn't think there was anything wrong with those books

23:54

or with the way schools were teaching reading.

23:56

But it was clear to her that some kids

23:58

needed extra help. And she wanted

24:00

to come up with a way to help those kids.

24:03

So in nineteen seventy six, she created

24:06

a program to teach poor readers,

24:08

the strategies that she thought good

24:10

readers use. She called her

24:12

program reading recovery. Sandra

24:15

Iverson was trained as a reading recovery

24:17

teacher in New Zealand in the nineteen

24:19

eighties. Mari, laws. The

24:22

goddess, you know.

24:23

And and I've followed it faithfully. I

24:25

loved it. Yeah. Murray

24:28

Clay did not believe in phonics

24:30

instruction. In one of her books,

24:33

she described phonics as nonsense.

24:36

And reading recovery teachers were

24:38

not supposed to tell kids to sound

24:40

out

24:40

words. Says Sandra Iverson.

24:43

No. You could tell them to look at the first

24:45

letter and it'll pop out of your head. If

24:47

you're looking at the picture as well, you know, look at

24:49

the first letter, it'll pop out. Sanders

24:51

says a child with a good oral vocabulary

24:54

could usually come up with a word by looking

24:56

at the picture in the book. Then

24:58

the reading recovery teacher would ask the child

25:01

to check the word to make sure it was

25:03

right. You would say, does that make

25:05

sense? And then you would say, well, does it sound

25:07

right? And the last thing you might say

25:09

was, well, with those letters of it.

25:12

Teaching kids to read this way has

25:14

become known as three queuing.

25:17

It's not a term Maury Clay used as

25:19

far as I know, but three queuing

25:21

is based on her theory of how

25:23

people read. And her reading

25:25

recovery program caught the attention

25:28

of people around the

25:29

world. President

25:33

Bill Clinton visited an elementary school

25:35

in Virginia in nineteen ninety eight

25:38

and raved about Clay's probe I'm

25:40

a big fan of the reading recovery program.

25:43

And if you look at the research, it

25:45

has about the best long term results

25:48

of any strategy. By the end of

25:50

the nineteen nineties, reading recovery

25:52

was in more than one in five american

25:55

schools. In forty nine States.

25:57

And it was all over the English speaking

25:59

world. Australia, Canada,

26:02

Britain. The queen of England

26:04

made Maury clay a dream. The

26:06

female equivalent of a knight.

26:09

It's hard to overstate the influence

26:12

Clay had. She had come

26:14

up with a theory to explain one

26:16

of the mysteries of the human mind,

26:19

how people read. But

26:22

Mari Clay's theory about how people

26:24

read was just that, a theory.

26:27

Even Mari Clay wasn't sure

26:29

it was right. And even

26:31

as her work was gaining influence, scientists

26:34

around the world were starting to use

26:36

new tools to peer into

26:39

people's brains and figure out

26:41

what we're doing when we're

26:42

reading. There

26:44

was a scholar named Keith Reener who

26:46

developed eye tracking, a technology.

26:49

This is James Kim, a professor at Harvard

26:51

who has written about the history of reading research.

26:54

And what eye tracking technology allows

26:56

us to do is it allows us to see

26:58

what the human eye does when it

27:00

reads text.

27:02

And what Keith Rainer's studies showed

27:04

is that good readers process virtually

27:07

every letter in every word as they

27:09

read.

27:09

They didn't skip. They didn't look at whole words.

27:12

And that finding was replicated over and over

27:14

again. Eye tracking studies

27:16

showed that good readers rely

27:19

on the letters to know what the words say.

27:22

Another part of the queuing theory scientists

27:24

started testing out is whether

27:26

readers can use meaning and

27:28

context to accurately identify

27:31

words. If you cover the word

27:33

with a sticky note, can you guess what

27:35

it is? The answer

27:37

is you can try, but

27:39

you'll be wrong lot of the time. Experiment

27:42

showed that even a well educated,

27:45

skilled reader could predict only

27:47

about one in four words using

27:49

contextual clues. By

27:52

the nineteen nineties, it was clear

27:54

from the research that Maury Clay's

27:56

theory of how good reading works wasn't

27:59

right. But lots of people

28:01

didn't know about that research and

28:03

continued to believe deeply in

28:06

clay and her reading recovery program.

28:08

I was convinced that radio recovery in

28:11

the pure fall was perfect.

28:14

Actually, convinced. This is

28:16

Sandra Iverson again, the reading recovery

28:18

teacher in New Zealand. By the

28:20

early nineteen nineties, she was working

28:22

on a master's degree. And her thesis

28:25

adviser suggested she study

28:27

whether the reading recovery program could

28:29

be more effective. If it also

28:31

included teaching children how

28:34

to sound out written words. Sandra

28:37

was skeptical. Item for one minute

28:39

saying it might sound a bit different, you know.

28:41

But she did the study. One

28:44

group of kids got reading recovery in

28:46

its original form. And

28:48

another group got reading recovery but

28:50

with an added element, explicit

28:53

instruction in how to sound out words.

28:55

And the students who got the explicit instruction

28:58

needed far fewer lessons to

29:00

be successful. And that to me,

29:03

was significant because it meant

29:05

that you could recover more children than

29:07

you were the valor was. Sandra

29:10

began to notice that kids could complete

29:13

the reading recovery program without

29:15

really learning how to read. They

29:18

could look like they were reading by using

29:20

the strategies they'd been taught. But

29:22

as the books got harder, as the words

29:24

got longer, as the pictures went away,

29:27

some of those kids struggled because

29:29

they didn't know how to actually read

29:31

the

29:32

words. Those students who

29:34

come in at a regular recovery. Many

29:36

of them just do not make progress in

29:38

the classroom. They either standstill or

29:41

they move back.

29:45

Just last year, a big study was

29:47

released showing that, on average, kids

29:49

who went through reading recovery actually

29:51

did worse in third and fourth grade

29:54

than similar kids who had not been through

29:56

the program. But reading recovery

29:58

has not gone away. In spite of

30:01

all the evidence showing that Maury Clay

30:03

was wrong about how people read,

30:05

her influence has expanded. In

30:08

many schools, the strategies she

30:10

advocated for are now a part

30:12

of the reading curriculum for all

30:14

children. And there's entire industry

30:17

behind it, and some of those teaching

30:19

materials and books have made

30:21

their authors and their publisher

30:23

a lot of money.

30:24

It was a huge hit. Just crazy

30:27

hit. That's next on

30:29

reveal.

30:44

Hi. This is Missa Perron, membership

30:46

manager here at Reveal. Reveal

30:49

is a non profit new organization. We

30:52

depend on the support of our listeners.

30:54

Donate today, please head

30:56

to reveal news dot org slash

30:59

donate. Thank you.

31:03

From the Center for Investigative Reporting and

31:05

PRX, this is Reveal.

31:08

I'm Al Latin. In the late

31:10

nineteen nineties, after two

31:12

years as a first grade teacher, Lacey

31:14

Robinson started a master's degree in

31:17

New York City at Columbia University's

31:19

prestigious Teachers College. And

31:21

to help pay tuition, she got a job

31:23

on campus working at a teacher training

31:26

institute. It was exciting.

31:28

She was learning from people who were at the top

31:30

of their field famous people.

31:33

None more famous it seemed that

31:35

her boss, a professor named

31:37

Lucy

31:37

Hawkins. I got invited one day

31:39

to go out with Lucy and the team to some schools

31:41

in the Bronx. And to witness

31:43

her professionally developing a

31:45

group of teachers. And it was like theater.

31:48

I mean, the people it she was like, Rockstar

31:51

walking into that

31:52

building. And I just remember

31:54

sitting there like, in awe,

31:57

Lucy Hawkins is even more famous

31:59

today. Her approach to teaching

32:01

reading and writing is used in schools

32:03

all over the world. It's estimated

32:05

that as many as a quarter of elementary schools

32:07

in the US use her curriculum. But

32:10

now, Lucy caulkins says

32:12

some of what she taught was wrong.

32:15

Emily Hanford, hosted the podcast, sold

32:17

a story, takes it from here.

32:21

Lucy Hawkins' teacher training institutes

32:23

in New York often begin with

32:25

opening ceremonies in a church church.

32:30

This is a teacher recording herself

32:32

as she walks into the church. It's

32:35

a riverside church in

32:36

Manhattan. Yeah. Oh, boy. Oh,

32:38

boy. This is

32:40

so beautiful. And my

32:43

gosh. It was like being at

32:45

a rock concert. Right? This

32:47

is Lisa Karim, another teacher who

32:49

came to one of Hawkins institutes in New York.

32:52

One of the sessions was going into

32:54

this big college auditorium, everybody

32:57

was whisper quiet and there was Lucy down

32:59

at the front with a student teaching

33:01

a writing lesson and it felt like you were watching

33:04

something magical. Lisa

33:06

Karim wanted to make the same kind of magic

33:08

for her students. That's why she

33:10

was there. It was Here's a person

33:13

who knows how

33:15

children learn to read and write. And

33:18

I want to be able to teach

33:20

children to read and write. Lucy

33:22

Hawkins tapped into a need

33:25

among the nation's teachers. A

33:27

need to know more about how

33:29

to teach reading and writing. More

33:31

than a hundred and seventy thousand teachers

33:34

have made the pill amidge to her teacher

33:36

training institutes in New

33:37

York. This is Carrie Qi

33:39

who was a teacher in Washington state. It was

33:42

like this sense

33:44

of the ivy league and you always wanna

33:46

go

33:46

there, we would all apply it.

33:49

This is Krista Velasquez. She's

33:51

a teacher in Palo Alto, California,

33:53

and certain people would get picked to go, and then certain

33:55

people wouldn't get picked to go. A

33:57

school district can't afford to send everyone.

34:00

The institutes cost up to eight hundred and

34:02

fifty dollars per person plus expenses.

34:05

Krista says everyone was envious of

34:07

the teachers who got to go. There is this

34:09

desire you're gonna go with your best friends,

34:11

you guys go together, you stay in a hotel

34:13

together, the people who went, you know, they kind

34:15

of got wind and dine and they would go to shows

34:18

when they were out there. They got a free

34:20

trip to New York. But a school

34:22

district doesn't have to send their teachers to

34:24

New York to learn from Lucy and her team,

34:26

they can come to you. For few days

34:29

of training or for ongoing coaching

34:31

and support, The

34:35

Palo Alto schools contracted with

34:37

Hawkins for years to have her trainers

34:40

in their schools. Records

34:42

show the district paid an LLC that

34:45

belongs to Hawkins more than a million

34:47

dollars between twenty thirteen and

34:49

twenty twenty one. That's

34:51

how Krista Velasquez learned to do the Hawkins

34:54

reading and writing workshop. The Lucy

34:56

trainers are phenomenal. And when

34:58

you're sitting with them in a room and they're teaching

35:00

you, you feel like you can do anything.

35:02

They become a sunlight in a room. And

35:04

when you're in these trainings with them, you

35:07

see that there's a possibility to become that

35:09

son. Lucy Hawkins has

35:11

visited Palo Alto too. If Beyoncé

35:14

came and gave a private concert to my district,

35:16

It would not have been a bigger deal for many of

35:18

my

35:18

teachers. This is Todd Collins, a

35:20

school board member in Palo Alto remembering

35:23

a Hawkins visit to the district a few years

35:25

ago. And I've been stunned. I mean, I've I've

35:27

said in meeting with educational

35:29

leaders in my district and have them talk

35:31

about the curriculum as

35:34

Lucy. Lucy

35:36

says this. Lucy does this.

35:39

She personifies this

35:41

curriculum. Here's

35:43

how a lesson from Kockin's curriculum works.

35:47

The teacher starts with something called

35:49

a mini lesson. An example

35:51

of a mini lesson for kindergarten is

35:54

what is an avid reader. The

35:56

teacher shows the class photographs of

35:58

avid readers. And asks the

36:00

children to discuss what they notice. Then

36:03

the children are sent off to find comfortable

36:06

spots so they can practice avid

36:08

reading. These are kindergarteners.

36:11

Most of them don't know how to read yet,

36:14

but they're supposed to spend thirty

36:16

five to forty five minutes reading

36:18

independently and with partners

36:20

and in small groups. The teacher

36:22

circulates and observes and confers

36:25

with the children. At some point,

36:27

the teacher gets the attention of the whole class

36:30

for what's called a mid workshop teaching

36:33

point. She might share something

36:35

she's noticed. The example

36:37

in the teacher guide is to say something

36:39

like this. Everywhere I look,

36:42

you are reading avidly. I

36:44

don't need those photographs of strangers

36:46

to see Avid Reading. No way.

36:48

It's right here in front of me.

36:51

The kids then go back to their book. Eventually,

36:55

the teacher brings the children back together

36:57

so they can share what they have learned

36:59

about avid reading. Many

37:03

American teachers don't learn

37:06

much about how kids learn to

37:08

read in their teacher preparation

37:10

programs. Cockins provided

37:12

them with tools and inspiration.

37:17

Through Lucy Hawkins, the

37:19

writing through.

37:21

Music have been written about Lucy Hawkins.

37:24

Like this song, a teacher posted to Twitter.

37:27

Now in New York, we wanna follow

37:29

him.

37:29

And this song about the reading strategies

37:32

Lucy Hawkins recommended. Oh,

37:33

good. We just welcome habits.

37:37

Teachers are being taught this song

37:39

at one of Hawkins institutes. We

37:41

found the video on Facebook. Those

37:49

strategies check the picture, look

37:51

at the first letter, Lucy

37:53

Hawkins recently acknowledged she

37:56

was wrong about those strategies. Nothing

37:58

that we do is ever perfect. You know, it's only

38:00

the best that we know. This is Lucy

38:02

Hawkins in March of twenty twenty one.

38:05

It's her Zoom office hours. And

38:07

in this office hours, she announces

38:09

that her publisher, Heinemann, will

38:12

be releasing a new edition of her

38:14

curriculum for teaching reading. Cawkins

38:17

says she and her team have been

38:19

rewriting the curriculum

38:21

to reflect what they have learned in recent

38:23

years. About the science of reading.

38:25

We've fixed up a few of the places where the

38:27

science of reading has

38:28

been, you know, pointing out. We were like messed

38:30

up. She says there are things

38:33

she regrets, things

38:35

she should have done differently. But

38:37

research showing that strategies like

38:40

check the picture or a bad idea

38:42

has been around for decades. Why

38:45

didn't she know about it? I

38:47

interviewed Lucy Hawkins in twenty

38:49

twenty one, and I asked her that

38:51

question. So much of this

38:53

research isn't new, And this idea

38:56

that readers use, context, multiple

38:58

sources of information to solve words, identify

39:01

words as they're reading, that was really

39:03

taken on by researchers back in this seventies

39:05

and eighties. That's an interesting question. Like, is that

39:07

what we do? And they showed

39:09

quite definitively that that wasn't

39:12

the case I mean, were you sort of

39:14

aware of that research and how clear

39:16

that was already by the nineties? You're

39:21

asked me to go back and figure out what was in

39:23

my mind at one point or another. But

39:26

I would say

39:27

that that

39:31

you

39:31

have to remember that that research

39:35

was not I don't think

39:37

that there were classrooms that were doing

39:41

classroom based methods that

39:43

were exciting and poignant

39:47

and beautiful and and, you know, getting

39:49

kids on fire as readers and writers that

39:51

we're using that that chain of thinking. You

39:54

know, it was part of an entire gestalt

39:58

that was different than ours.

40:00

Lucy Hawkins wanted to create classrooms

40:03

where children were curling up with books

40:06

in cozy nooks, not drilling

40:08

on phonics. She'd run

40:10

the work of Maury Clay and also

40:12

people who helped popularize Clay's

40:14

ideas in the United States. I

40:17

wanna tell you about two of those people.

40:19

Gai Sue Panelle and her writing

40:21

partner Irene Fountes. Panelle

40:24

came to Columbia many times

40:27

to teach Lucy Hawkins and her colleagues

40:29

what she knew about how children

40:31

learned to read. Penell

40:33

and Fountains have become enormously influential

40:36

in how schools teach reading. In

40:39

nineteen ninety six, they wrote a book

40:41

that became a best seller for their

40:43

publisher. It

40:44

was a huge hit. Just crazy

40:46

hit. Lisa Luederke was

40:48

one of the editors at the publishing company.

40:51

And from that point on, we started

40:53

publishing a series of books

40:55

by fountain

40:56

penel. Some of the books fountain

40:58

penel wrote were about phonics. They

41:01

weren't saying no to phonics instruction.

41:04

But they were saying you can teach

41:06

a child to read without teaching

41:08

them how to sound out the words. By

41:11

the early two thousands, Found us

41:13

in Penel's approach was in schools and

41:15

in teacher training programs around the

41:17

country. Sarah Gannon was

41:20

assigned Found us in Penel's book in a class

41:22

at the University of Michigan. I felt like

41:24

I was part of this exciting movement.

41:27

She never asked about the research behind

41:29

Fountes and Panel's approach. She

41:31

never thought to ask because Fountes

41:33

and Panel were professors. Her

41:35

professors had assigned their work. Why

41:38

would she question it? I trusted that

41:40

they're experts. I trusted

41:42

that this is the way you teach reading.

41:45

Like, how could they be how could they

41:48

be wrong?

41:49

Fantas and Panel didn't think

41:51

they were wrong. As far as I can

41:53

tell, I haven't been able to talk to

41:55

them. I've tried several

41:57

times over the past few years to get an

41:59

interview, but they've said no

42:01

every time. They had

42:03

to have heard about the scientific research

42:06

on reading by the late nineteen nineties.

42:08

There were big government reports about

42:10

that research. It was in the news.

42:13

But apparently, they were skeptical. We

42:16

found a recording where Gaysu Panel

42:18

talked about this. So we cannot

42:20

can on science and must accept its

42:23

findings tentatively. Let

42:26

me set this scene here a bit. This

42:28

is the two thousand and five Conference of

42:31

The Reading Recovery Council of North

42:33

America. Gessu Pinnel

42:35

is speaking to a roomful of people

42:38

who support the reading recovery program

42:40

and have been trained in Maori Clay's

42:42

idea about how kids learn to

42:44

read. But at this point in

42:46

two thousand five, a whole bunch

42:48

of school districts in the United States

42:50

are getting federal grants to adopt

42:53

programs based on the science of

42:55

reading. And Pinnel is telling

42:57

her audience, don't be so

43:00

sure about that science.

43:01

Remember that science can yield some

43:04

universally accepted findings that looking

43:06

back a century seem actually

43:08

bizarre. The argument

43:10

Panel is making in this speech is

43:12

that Maury Clay is the person

43:14

who figured out how children learn

43:17

to

43:17

read. And reading scientists

43:19

haven't caught up with Clay's ideas yet.

43:22

Newton discovered gravity. But

43:25

there was no great heralding of his new thinking.

43:28

In fact, the theory was widely disputed.

43:30

It took sixty years for

43:32

the new ideas to enter acceptability in

43:35

science, and we've only had forty so far.

43:40

Pennell and Fountains still support

43:43

Clay and her theory of how people

43:45

read, even as Lucy Hawkins

43:47

has been rewriting her curriculum. In

43:50

November of twenty twenty one, Fountains

43:52

and Panel posted a series of recorded

43:55

q and a's on their

43:56

website. This is Irene

43:58

Fountes. We do feel now it's

44:00

the right time to clarify some

44:03

mischaracterizations

44:04

of our work in support of teachers,

44:06

some of whom are under attack. In

44:09

this series of q and a's, founders

44:12

and Panel doubled down on the approach

44:14

they've been promoting for decades.

44:16

And reiterate their commitment to

44:18

Clay's queuing theory. Multiple

44:21

sources of information are combined

44:23

in a complex and orchestrated way.

44:26

If the reader says pony for

44:28

horse because of information from

44:30

the pictures, that tells

44:32

the teacher that the reader is using meaning

44:35

information from the pick cures. His

44:37

response is partially correct, but

44:39

the teacher needs to guide him

44:42

to stop and work for accuracy.

44:44

Fountains says it would be simplistic

44:47

to tell a child to just

44:49

sound it out. Gazer

44:55

Panel, Irene Fountes, and

44:57

Lucy Hawkins are all

44:59

star authors for the same publishing

45:01

company, Heinemann. Now,

45:04

one of those star authors has moved

45:06

away from the queuing theory. The

45:09

other two have not. But

45:11

Heinemann still sells

45:13

both. Books that encourage queuing

45:15

and books that have gotten rid of it.

45:18

Hi, Vicky. Hi, Emily. Very

45:20

nice to meet you. I talked

45:22

to Vicky Boyd. She was the

45:24

Executive Vice President and General Manager

45:26

of Heinemann when we did an interview last April.

45:29

She'd been with the company since the early two thousands.

45:32

I pointed out to Vicki that founders and

45:34

Panelle are sticking with the queuing theory.

45:36

And Lucy Hawkins is not. Both

45:39

of those things can't be right. Where does Heinemann

45:41

stand on that?

45:43

Yeah, you know, thank you for that question. You

45:46

know, our our

45:49

authors disagree.

45:52

And we think that's good.

45:54

We think debate is a good

45:56

thing. But there's lots

45:58

of evidence against the queuing theory,

46:01

and there's been lots of evidence since the

46:03

nineties. And you just said that there's a

46:05

difference of opinion among

46:07

your authors. But I think this is bigger than a

46:09

difference of opinion. Fountains

46:11

and Panel are holding fast

46:13

to something that has been shown

46:17

decades ago. To not

46:19

be a good idea?

46:22

Yeah. I I'm not sure that I agree

46:24

that they're holding fast to something

46:27

that has been disproven.

46:30

These authors are leaders

46:33

in the field we rely on

46:36

their many years of

46:39

research and interpretation

46:42

of that research into real

46:45

classrooms.

46:46

Research back's many approaches. And

46:48

teachers need a range of options. About

46:53

three months after our interview, Vicki

46:55

Boyd left Heinemann. The

46:57

company has a new president. I

46:59

have and talked to him. After he

47:01

took over, he said in a blog post

47:04

that the company would be focusing on

47:06

clarifying and formalizing its

47:08

curriculum development practices. He

47:11

later said that Heinemann would be working

47:13

with Fountes and Pinnel to increase

47:15

the emphasis on foundational skills

47:17

and decoding in their materials. I

47:20

emailed a spokesperson and

47:22

asked what would be changed about the

47:24

curriculum review process at Heinemann. And

47:27

I asked if scientists and Panel would be dropping

47:29

the queuing strategies. I didn't

47:31

get a response. After

47:38

Sola's story was released, Heinemann

47:40

posted response on its website.

47:43

The company said research supports

47:45

their materials and that the podcast

47:48

radically oversimplifies and

47:50

misrepresents complex literacy

47:52

issues. It's

47:54

true that the podcast doesn't explore

47:57

all of the components that are necessary for

47:59

effective reading instruction. Sold

48:02

a story explores one problematic

48:05

idea. The idea that kids

48:07

don't have to sound out written words.

48:09

Because there are other ways to figure out

48:11

what the words say. That

48:13

idea is everywhere. In

48:16

teacher training programs, in books,

48:18

in curriculum materials and

48:20

not just in materials published by

48:22

Heinemann. The problem

48:24

here isn't just whether or not kids

48:26

are getting phonics in direction. It's

48:29

that they are being taught those queuing

48:31

strategies, like look at the picture,

48:33

think of a word that would make sense. Teaching

48:36

those strategies can cause bad

48:38

habits to get ingrained so

48:40

that even when kids are older,

48:43

they tend to skip letters and words.

48:45

They guess a lot rather than actually

48:48

reading the

48:49

words.

48:49

I think more

48:50

and more

48:50

people are starting to recognize that there's

48:53

a pretty significant number of kids

48:55

out there that were neglecting their

48:57

needs. This is Bruce McCanless. He's

48:59

a cognitive neuroscientist at

49:01

Stanford. And the kids

49:03

struggle and they suffer and at

49:05

times I've run reading clinics where the kids

49:08

break down like the fourth word into a reading

49:10

test and start crying and telling you

49:12

that they're they're a defective person

49:14

who is stupid

49:15

and doesn't belong in school and hates

49:18

school and never wants to do anything with reading

49:20

ever. Bruce McCanless says

49:22

teaching kids that they don't have to look

49:24

carefully at words and sound them out

49:27

is putting many of them at risk

49:29

of never getting there. Of never

49:31

becoming good readers.

49:39

For a lot of teachers, it's been a painful

49:42

realization that the way they've been

49:44

taught to teach kids to read was

49:46

wrong. Across the country,

49:48

teachers have been changing their approach

49:50

and coming to terms with all the years

49:52

they taught kids using a

49:54

debunked theory. And I

49:56

just kept saying, well, keep trying.

49:59

This is Carrie Qi. And then when they

50:01

couldn't, I just thought they

50:03

didn't wanna try. And

50:06

what I'm haunted by is

50:09

when it wasn't working, I

50:11

blamed it on children.

50:13

I can't recommend this podcast enough.

50:16

You can hear, sold a story from American

50:18

public media wherever you get your podcast.

50:21

You can also find it along with all of

50:23

Emily's articles and documentaries on

50:25

reading at soldestore dot org.

50:29

Today's show was reported and produced by Emily

50:32

Hanford and Christopher Peak. Catherine

50:34

Winter edited today's episode. Support

50:36

for Soul de Story was provided by the HollyHawk

50:39

Foundation, The Oat Foundation, and

50:41

Windy and Steven Gull. Reveal's

50:43

General Counsel is Victoria Berenitsky. Our

50:46

production manager Steven Rasgon, original

50:48

score by Wandley, sound designed

50:50

by the dynamic duo, Jay Breezy,

50:52

mister Jim Briggs and Fernando, my

50:54

man, Yo Aruda. Our postproduction

50:57

team is the justice league, and this week

50:59

it includes Katherine Steyer Martinez and

51:01

Chris Julian who also created some of

51:03

today's music. Our digital producer,

51:05

Sarah Merck, our CEO is Robert Rosenthal,

51:08

our COO is Maria Feldman, Our

51:10

interim executive producers are Brett Myers

51:12

in Tawke Telenitas. Our theme music

51:14

is by Comerano, Lightning. Support

51:17

for reveals provided by the Ford Foundation,

51:19

the Riva and David Logan Foundation, the

51:22

John D. And Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation,

51:24

the Jonathan Logan Foundation, the

51:26

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the

51:28

Park Foundation, and the Hellman Foundation.

51:31

REVEAL is a coproduction of the Center for Investigative

51:34

Reporting in

51:34

PRX, I'm Al Edson.

51:37

And remember, there is always more

51:39

to the story.

51:47

From PRX.