FROM LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, EXCERPTS FROM AN
ARTICLE IN THE L.A. TIMES MARCH 12, 1999:

"Zacarias Orders Overhaul
of New Phonics Materials"

"After his staff trained 2,500 teachers in a reading intervention program for failing students, Los Angeles schools Supt. Ruben Zacarias has ordered an overhaul of the materials because they did not reflect his mandate for step-by-step phonics instruction.

"Zacarias called for the changes after receiving complaints that the supplemental program drew on 'whole language' methods that have been discarded from state curriculum guidelines, including the use of pictures and other cues in stories to identify words.  'Although staff intended to convey our focus on a phonics-based approach, I don't think tha materials I saw clearly convey that message to the troops,' Zacarias said.'...I think they just didn't do a good enough job of packaging.'....

"The initial rounds of training have drawn sharp criticism from some of the state's top education officials, who assailed the district for recommending reading strategies that are largely blamed for California's dismal performance on standardized tests.

"The state officials said the training conflicts with new language arts standards and a blueprint for reading instruction adopted by the state in December.

"Those documents stress the importance of phonics as the foundation for reading instruction, and draw upon an array of research that says the key to literacy lies in children grasping the link between sounds and letters."

For a complete text of the article go to the L.A. Times link on our Links page.

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