[goodwithagun]

I am a public school teacher. I teach 11th grade American literature and 12th grade British literature. I can say that this article is very true. Children who learn sight words or use the see-and-say method do not know how to read. Sure, it gets students through fourth or fifth grade successfully, but they can't function at higher levels without phonics training. Our school system uses a Title I program called Success for All (SFA), which claims that phonics is part of the learning system. Since reading WHY JOHNNY STILL CAN'T READ (sorry don't know how to do italics) I have learned why this is a lie. It is quite frightening to hear 12th graders read, mispronounce words, and then not even recognize that what was read makes absolutely no sense.

[goodwithagun]

I hope the new servers eliminate the chronic double posts.

[Eva]

Oh for Pete’s sake, I have never heard of anyone being taught sight reading that wasn’t followed up with phonics.

Now, what you might be seeing are students with mild dyslexia, who simply cannot learn phonics without great difficulty.

Most of the best students and fastest readers are sight readers.