Board sets rules for teaching phonics

Public schools must offer phonics beginning this fall. Monday, the Arizona Board of Education adopted a way to make that happen.

Schools should use designated curriculum and teaching methods, the board said, and the state must survey the reading levels of children in kindergarten through third grade, require schools to keep track of how much they spend on classroom books and include phonics research in state academic standards.

But four members of the task force that developed these recommendations disagreed with the report, saying lawmakers shouldn't dictate how kids are taught to read.

"It's a tragic day for teachers and students and we've entered the ugly enforcement stage," said Kenneth Goodman, professor emeritus of reading, language and culture at the University of Arizona, who served on the group and commented after the vote.

"The state should let teachers choose," said Goodman, often called the "guru of whole language."

Phonics hones in on the sounds letters make and whole language focuses on words and their physical configuration.

State Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, said he included folks from both sides of the issue when he created the task force, which held 11 meetings during the past year.

The 1998 law requires that public schools include phonics in the educational mix and that universities train prospective teachers to teach it.

Mike Oliver, principal of Mesa's Barbara Bush Elementary School who attended Monday's meeting, said he supports phonics but doesn't like the idea of mandating it.

"Phonics is one tool in a very large toolbox," he said. "It's not a phonics issue, it's a control issue."

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