California is finally adopting phonics, fulfilling a dream

By Dan Walters, CalMatters

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Marion Joseph died in 2022 and therefore cannot celebrate what at long last is happening in California to improve children’s abysmal levels of reading comprehension.

Joseph, a renowned expert on reading instruction, came out of retirement in the 1980s to wage a personal crusade for the adoption of phonics, doing battle with educators who stubbornly supported a rival system called “whole language” that was failing to raise reading scores.

Phonics stresses fundamental instruction in the letters and letter combinations that make up sounds, thus allowing children to “sound out” words and later whole sentences and passages. The whole language approach assumes that reading is a naturally learned skill, much like speaking, and that exposing children to reading material will allow it to emerge.

Having realized that her own grandson, then a first-grader, was having difficulty with reading, Joseph began pestering the state’s politicians to adopt phonics, persuading then-Gov. Pete Wilson in the 1990s to appoint her to a commission on reading instruction and then the state Board of Education, platforms from which she could pursue her mission.

However, she achieved only modest success in what were dubbed “reading wars,” and after she left the school board the whole language approach re-emerged as dominant.

Reading scores on state and national academic tests continued to languish, with fewer than half of fourth-graders reading at an acceptable level.

School districts that had voluntarily adopted phonics demonstrated remarkable gains. They recognized that the ability to read is fundamental to succeeding in other academic skills, such as mathematics.

Finally substantial numbers of legislators decided to intervene, and a pro-phonics contingent began pushing measures that would compel school districts to adopt what has been dubbed the “science of reading,” backed by a phalanx of education reformers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has struggled with dyslexia, a disorder affecting his ability to read, supported the efforts and included $200 million in the 2025-26 state budget to train teachers in phonics.

Meanwhile Assembly Bill 1454 is moving quickly through the legislative process. Sponsored by pro-phonics legislators including Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, it would require the state Board of Education to adopt phonics-based instructional materials and include phonics in reading teacher credential programs.

The pro-phonics moves are drawing praise from EdVoice and dozens of other educational reform groups.

“When a child learns to read, they don’t just decode letters on a page, they begin to dream bigger, think more critically, and imagine a future beyond what they can see. Today’s committee approval brings us one step closer to all California children reading at grade level,” said Marshall Tuck, CEO of Ed Voice, after the bill cleared the Senate Education Committee last week.

Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, a West Covina Democrat who has become the Legislature’s top phonics advocate, said, “After months of hard work and collaboration, we are making steady progress toward delivering on our promise to teach all California children to read. The support we saw today in the Senate Education Committee moves us closer to ensuring that no child falls through the cracks because they weren’t taught to read using scientifically proven reading methods. The continued bipartisan support on this bill tells us that California is ready and motivated to lead on literacy.”

The actions fall a bit short of requiring local school districts to adopt phonics, but they go a long way toward achieving Marion Joseph’s goal.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.