Reading opens worlds and NYC schools are finally getting it right

New York City public schools are doing something rare and important: Sticking with a good idea long enough to make it work.Two years ago, toward the end of the 2022-23 academic year, Mayor Adams launched “NYC Reads,” a long-overdue course correction mandating the use of evidence-based, phonics-driven reading programs in every public elementary school in the city.On Monday, he expanded the initiative to middle schools.It’s an unambiguous win for children and families, and one that deserves support, patience and — most of all — permanence.Reading is the single most important thing New York City’s schools need to get right.In an age of rampant screen time, when a disproportionate share of the city’s public-school students grow up in low-income homes or where English isn’t the primary language, the stakes are even higher.There is simply no educational equity, no opportunity and no meaningful learning without skilled and proficient reading.For decades, literacy instruction in New York City was dominated by the romantic and discredited ideas of Columbia Teachers College professor Lucy Calkins.Her “balanced literacy” approach rested on the belief that children learn to read naturally, just by exposure to books that interest them, using cues like pictures or context to guess unfamiliar words.One wag aptly dubbed it “vibes-based literacy.”But reading is not a natural act: Children don’t learn to decode print the way they learn to speak.The “science of reading” — a body of research drawing on cognitive science and linguistics — shows that systematic phonics and structured literacy instruction are essential, especially early on.

Anything less is educational malpractice.That’s what makes NYC Reads so critical.The city now mandates schools use one of three approved, evidence-based programs paired with explicit phonics instruction in early grades.The program has already touched more than 350,000 city elementary-school students.

Expanding it...