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Bush Adviser Casts Doubt on the Benefits of Phonics Program The New York Times By Abby Goodnough January 24, 2003 resident Bush's top adviser on reading said yesterday that the citywide phonics program unveiled this week by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein had no proven track record, suggesting that its adoption could cost the city millions of dollars in federal aid. The adviser, G. Reid Lyon, a researcher at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said there is no scientific evidence that the curriculum, called Month by Month Phonics, is effective with students who struggle academically. "We...

The other day, I received an e-mail from a lady in California who asked, "What on earth is the whole-language system?" She had read my article on the making of the black underclass in which I had identified whole language as the primary cause of reading failure among so many black students. Fortunately, the answer is easy to give, because whole-language professors have been quite open in defining what they mean by their pedagogic philosophy. So I shall quote some salient passages from their writings. In a book entitled "Whole Language, What's the Difference?" written by three whole-language professors in...

The only effective group of citizens today in open opposition to big government are the home schoolers. They are the only Americans willing to take on the public education system that props up the entire statist enterprise of big, intrusive government. Forget about conservative politicians. They are more concerned about conserving their legislative privileges than rolling back increasingly intrusive government. Although President Bush has said nice things about home schoolers, he is doing more to expand federal control over education than any previous Republican president. His call for nationwide standardized testing is in reality a call for a federal curriculum,...

<p>THE FORCES that want to dumb down public schools never rest. Failure never cows them; success never hinders them.</p> <p>After years of producing poor readers, California has returned to recommending phonics-rich reading programs. As more new schools adopt the program each year, reading test scores have risen modestly as a result.</p>