[WesleyLivesay]

I wonder if this is at least partially related to the move away from phonics over the last 20 years (which is now coming back): https://apnews.com/article/phonics-science-reading-c715dea43...

Looks like some states that re-emphasized phonics in a major way saw improvement, particularly in lower income brackets: https://apnews.com/article/reading-scores-phonics-mississipp...

[MrSkelter]

Large parts of the world don’t use a phonics system and for a long time it didn’t exist.

I am sure a properly performed study which accounted for the time spent on reading, as well as exposure to books, would demonstrate that phonics is no better than any other way of teaching reading.

My children live in a house of books, we have thousands. We read to them daily from soon after birth. They did not read early compared to their friends (though they did memorize some books which made it look as if they were reading pretty young). They didn’t start school until six and spent their early years in a bi-lingual Nordic school system before moving to the US and then Europe once again.

They now read at a very high level indeed, well above their peers. We made zero special effort. They just had access to books and libraries and live in an environment where everyone reads.

[HDThoreaun]

The US has been moving towards phonics recently if anything. Most of the country was always using phonics anyway.

[SiempreViernes]

The fact they could move towards phonics just illustrates the point that previously they were some ways off from phonics.

The problem of phonics being ignored was widespread just three years ago https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2022/10/20/sold-a-story-e...

[dambi0]

The second article also mentions a whole raft of other measures alongside phonics that could have contributed to the success.