H. Con Res. 214

Whereas the ability to read the English language with fluency and comprehension is essential if individuals are to reach their full potential;

Whereas it is an indisputable fact that written English is based on the alphabetic principle, and is, in fact a phonetic language;

Whereas the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has conducted extensive scientific research on reading for more than 34 years, at a cost of more than $200,000,000;

Whereas the NICHD findings on reading instruction conclude that phonemic awareness, direct systematic phonics instruction in sound-spelling correspondences, including blending of sound-spellings into words, reading comprehension, and regular exposure to interesting books are essential components of any reading program based on scientific research;

Whereas a consensus has developed around scientific research findings in reading instruction, as presented in the 1998 report of the National Research Council, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children;

Whereas the Learning First Alliance composed of national organizations such as the American Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National School Boards Association, National Parent Teachers Association, and National Education Association have agreed that well sequenced systematic phonics instruction is beneficial for all children;

Whereas more than 50 years of cognitive science, neuroscience, and applied linguistics have confirmed that learning to read is a skill that must be taught in a direct, systematic way;

Whereas phonics instruction is the teaching of a body of knowledge consisting of 26 letters of the alphabet, 44 English speech sounds they represent, and 70 most common spellings for those speech sounds;

Whereas reading scores continue to decline or remain stagnant, even though Congress has spent more than $120,000,000,000 over the past 30 years for title I programs (of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.)) with the primary purpose of improving reading skills;

Whereas the 1998 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) found that 69 percent of 4th grade students are reading below the proficient level;

Whereas the 1998 NAEP found that minority students on average continue to lag far behind their non-minority counterparts in reading proficiency, many of whom are in title I programs (of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.));

Whereas the 1998 NAEP also found that, 90 percent of African American, 86 percent of Hispanic, 63 percent of Asian, and 61 percent of white 4th grade students were reading below proficient levels, many of whom were in title I programs (of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.));

Whereas more than half of the students being placed in the special learning disabilities category of Special Education have not learned to read;

Whereas the cost of Special Education, at the Federal, State, and local levels exceeds $60,000,000,000 each year;

Whereas reading instruction in far too many schools is still based on the whole language philosophy, to the exclusion of all others and often to the detriment of the students;

Whereas the ability to read is the cornerstone of academic success, and most colleges of education do not offer prospective reading teachers instruction in the structure of spoken and written English, and the scientifically valid principles of effective reading instruction: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--

(1) phonemic awareness and direct systematic phonics instruction should be used in all schools as a first and essential step in teaching a student to read;

(2) pre-service professional development of reading teachers should include direct systematic phonics instruction; and

(3) all Federal programs with a strong reading component should use instructional practices that are based on scientific research in reading.

Excerpts from the Testimony

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. McIntosh) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay) each will control 20 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. McIntosh).

Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 214 expresses the importance of using proven, scientifically based reading instruction in the classroom, in preservice teacher training and in Federal education programs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling). Although he could not attend when this was discussed in committee, the gentleman has given his full support for this.

Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. What the resolution says basically is a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that direct systematic phonics instruction is one of the necessary components of an effective reading program.

I think all of you who are here probably have been taught using many methods, including, I imagine everyone, phonics . My wife is a first grade teacher of 43 years. If she were told that she could only teach phonics , she would probably tell them where to go. If she was told she could not teach phonics , she would tell them where to go. If she was told she had to teach whole language, she would tell them where to go and how to get there. If she was told she could not use whole language with all of her other methods of teaching reading, she would tell them where to go and how to get there. But the important thing is, it is one of the important components in the teaching of reading. I think everyone here would agree with that, because that is probably the method that was used, and it is scientifically based.

Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Schaffer).

Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, I would remind the previous speaker and others who are considering this matter that the resolution before us is a sense of Congress resolution and in no way represents any sort of mandate or dictate or requirement at the Federal level, merely a statement of opinion based on some simple observations from the scientific community and the academic community that phonics works and should be preferred.

Let me give you a perfect example of an expert who speaks forcefully on the matter. This is a letter that I received from the Colorado Commissioner of Education.

`I am writing in response to your recent inquiry,' which was about this bill. `I strongly support the need to redress the balance in American reading instruction. Sadly, over time, that balance has tilted against phonics , which throughout our history has been a foundation of solid reading skills.

`The proper interaction between the 44 sounds, or phonemes, and the 26 letters of the English language is something that must be well understood by all who would aspire to teach our young children. Tragically, by their own testimony, our reading teachers in overwhelming proportion have not received this training in anywhere near the measures needed.

`Today, at the national and state levels, there is broad consensus that teacher training must be dramatically redesigned. Nowhere is that redesign more needed than in the area of reading, the essential foundation for all learning. Furthermore, ensuring that every teacher possesses a strong grounding in phonics must be at heart of our redesign in reading.

`Being most grateful for your outstanding work on behalf of Colorado children, I remain sincerely yours, William J. Maloney, Colorado Commissioner of Education.'

I would submit there is one more expert that should be considered, and this expert is like many throughout the country, this is a grandmother who sent me an e-mail on this very bill. Here is what she says.

`I would like to go on record that I have six grandchildren in Larimer and Weld Counties in Colorado, and I must tell you that the two that are in Weld County (Eaton School District), are excellent readers, which teaches phonics . The four here in Larimer County (Ft. Collins schools) are terrible readers, not taught phonics . Thank you.'

That letter is from B. Bessert of Fort Collins.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise for a couple of reasons. The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer) made some very great statements, and he referred to the resolve clauses, but he neglected to refer to the amendment which appears at the end of that page which, in my judgment is effective, as one who is a big advocate for children, because it amends the whole code, which says that phonics is one of the necessary components.

The truth of the matter for any of us who have been in education, this debate today is like many debates that go on in America between whole language advocates and phonics advocates. I will tell the Members, both of them are right. Both of them should be included. This says our teachers do have the choice, and it is very important.

I rise today because I want to pay tribute to the United States Department of Education for providing us in Georgia with a Goals 2000 grant which allowed us to develop the phonics -based Reading First program in Georgia under Dr. Cindy Cupp, which enabled our Title I schools, after its implementation, to raise our children across the board by higher than the 25th percentile in each and every category.

Phonics is one, but not the only one. It should be included and not excluded. With the amendment, this resolution ensures that we recognize it as a methodology, it is not a curriculum, and we encourage schools to use all the best methods to teach our children.

I commend the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. McIntosh). Most importantly of all, I commend this Congress for focusing on America's number one problem in public education. That is, the poor reading performance of our children as they leave the third grade.

We should give our teachers every resource to meet the needs of every child, whether it be whole language or whether it be phonics -based.

Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and would like to share with them some of the materials I have put into the Record.

The first is a statement from Indiana State Senator Teresa Lubbers, who is an expert on education, having been a teacher herself and worked mightily in that area in our State Senate. She has worked to improve the performance of Hoosier students, and she is absolutely convinced that our success depends on our ability to produce competent teachers.

She goes on to say, one ingredient of that is, `I am also convinced that phonics awareness is the preferred and proven way to teach reading. We do our children a disservice when we allow them to move ahead without a mastery of reading, which ensures frustration and failure throughout their school years.'

Mr. Speaker, I would mention again the statistic I said in my opening statement: 67 percent of our fourth graders in America are below standard in reading. That is unacceptable. This resolution says, let us do everything possible to make that work for them. Phonics is one of the ways in which teachers can do that.

A second statement that I would like to enter into the Record would be from Linda Wight Harmon, who is a parent. She talks about her eldest daughter, Catherine, who uses the skills of reading in the second grade, where she learned phonics from a private tutor in a computerized language program.

Another is a list of several success stories from teachers in our public schools in Indiana.

The letter that I mentioned earlier from an elementary schoolteacher in grade one, Ms. Kristi Trapp, who talked about her student from Africa, the young man who was not able to read at all but was able to learn in her school; then also another teacher from that same school, Mrs. Karin Jacob.

Finally, we have several other things from parents. One of them is from Diane and Bill Walters, who talk about the never-ending story of trying to get Justin, their son, to be able to read, and several statements that were prepared for the interim study committee in the Indiana State Senate, one from Ms. Diane Badgley, another came from Peggy Schafir, another from Susan Warner.

All of these parents and teachers talk about the success of phonics for their children. That is what we are talking about today, is the children of America and how we can help them learn to read.

Finally, I include for the Record a list of commonly asked questions about reading instruction that was prepared by Dr. Patrick Groff, who is a board member and senior adviser to the NRRF.

The material referred to is as follows:

Commonly Asked Questions About Reading Instruction
(BY DR. PATRICK GROFF, NRRF BOARD MEMBER & SENIOR ADVISOR)

Q: What Do Children Need To Learn In Order To Read Well?

A: Four main things: (1) phonics information and how to apply it to recognize words; (2) familiarity with the meanings of words; (3) the literal comprehension of what authors intended to convey; and (4) a critical attitude toward what is read.

Q: What Is Phonics Information?

A: The relationship or correspondences between how we speak and spell words. The individual speech sounds in our oral language generally are represented regularly by certain letters, e.g., the spoken word--rat--is spelled r-a-t.

Q: What Is A Phonics Rule?

A: The rule that a speech sound is spelled frequently by a certain letter (or cluster of letters), and in no other way. For example, the speech sounds /r/-/a/-/t/, in this order, are spelled r-a-t over 96 percent of the time. Children apply phonics rules to gain the approximate pronunciations of written words. After this, they usually can infer the normal pronunciations.

Q: How Does The Application Of Phonics Information Work?

A: The child first perceives the individual letters in a word, e.g., rat. He or she than `sounds out' this word by saying its three speech sounds, /r/-/a/-/t/. As children's skills grow in phonics application, they can quickly recognize frequently occurring letter clusters such as at (as in fat, cat, mat, etc.).

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