The extent of the illiteracy epidemic in Michigan and elsewhere demands more than simply switching curriculum materials in ...

The check measures their ability to use synthetic phonics—an approach ... such as the difference in results between children from richer and poorer backgrounds—by the end of primary school.

Phonics instructs children to identify letters and their pronunciation to construct words, supplying the tools needed to tackle combinations of letters. “Cueing” and its related methods ...

The strategies align with decades of research that shows that in addition to broadening their vocabulary, "children need to understand phonics, or the relationship between letters and the sounds ...