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Letter: Columnist is off base

By Neal F. Cohen, Vancouver
Published: May 22, 2020, 6:00am

Phonics instruction in America is neither new nor controversial.

I have held National Board Certification as a professional educator for almost 20 years. I have worked as a reading instructor, and have served as a mentor teacher. Of the hundreds of teachers I have known, I’ve never met one who does not teach or believe in phonics. It is part of every teacher’s toolkit, which does include other things to accommodate differing student needs.

Jay Ambrose writes, “A major part of the problem is too many schools and teachers say no to phonics” (“Phonics — one of America’s top issues,” May 19). What does he base this on? He also states, “… schools and teachers fail to do their job, as in saying they know best and then using other techniques that achieve something, maybe …” Why would school administrators tolerate this? The ones I worked with would not. Skill in teaching literacy (including phonics instruction) is continuously addressed in ongoing professional development.

There are many complicated reasons for declines in reading scores (poverty, changing demographics). Blaming teachers is not productive. Let’s start a more useful discussion of the issues that includes the education professionals who will be relied on to implement any solution.

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