I don't have a college degree, and I retrained my dyslexic, illiterate, public-school-ruined fifth grader to read a college level after one year of intensive study. No fancy phonics programs...just organic 'as-you-read-it-learn-it' phonics...and interesting, addictive books.
I'm no language professor, and I figured it out. What causes these wonks to overlook the obvious and weedle endlessly searching for common sense in statistical studies...while they, at the same time, heal not their "experimental subjects"? Sheesh, these are CHILDREN.
Waddabunchamaroons.
It's interesting what is happening --- a lot of kids appear to read, they read word by word by word and they were being taught to read since preschool days --- but by the third grade it's apparent they cannot read with comprehension. They can read the paragraph but cannot figure out what it meant. It would be good for many to just start over and be retrained.