Reading Wars Rage On at Teachers Convention

SAN DIEGO —  To those in California who think the Reading Wars have subsided, consider the case of Kenneth Goodman and his fearless black T-shirt.

“BANNED in California,” it screams in bright red letters. “Freedom to learn. Freedom to teach. Social justice.”

Crusaders for phonics may have won the latest skirmish in the feud over reading instruction, but the Golden State is drawing heavy fire this week from some of those assembled here for the International Reading Assn.’s annual convention.

Goodman, for those who don’t know, is the American patriarch of whole language, a method of teaching widely blamed by state officials for California’s poor showing on national tests. He is one of the most outspoken critics of California’s move to explicit phonics instruction in the primary grades.

When he speaks, teachers listen.

The professor emeritus from the University of Arizona drew a standing ovation when he slammed the state for legislating phonics into textbooks and teacher training.

“What do the distinguished members of the California Legislature know that enables them to write a law that can tell a teacher . . . what to do and when to do it?” Goodman told 500 wildly applauding teachers Monday.

In these circles, reading is religion. And judging by the many voices rising from lecterns and round tables, there is anything but the broad consensus envisioned by the state.

While virtually everyone does agree that effective reading programs should include phonics, many here object to California’s prescribing that method over others.

The objections surface mostly in polite but firm tones: The reading association on Monday endorsed a position statement saying “there is no single method or single combination of methods that can successfully teach all children to read.” Teachers, the association argued, must have several strategies at their command.

“To be unscholarly about it, there is more than one way to skin a cat,” said association president Kathryn Ransom.

Ransom’s successor, Carol Santa, was more blunt.

“You have flipped from one extreme to another,” she said of California. “I am absolutely an advocate of phonics. But we don’t have data that says one methodology is superior to another.”

The association’s position statement is a reaction to phonics initiatives in California, Texas and other states around the country. In California, the latest bone of contention is a new language arts framework--the blueprint intended to guide reading and writing instruction in the state’s 8,000 schools.

The framework, adopted in December, calls for the letter-sound techniques of phonics to serve as the foundation of reading instruction, but it also calls for introducing children to good books.

Whole language emphasizes repeatedly exposing children to stories. Advocates say that phonics skills are introduced in the context of the literature.

State officials say their plan strikes a balance between the often competing camps, but they make no apologies for stressing the explicit method of phonics as the core of literacy.

While officials from the state Department of Education attended sessions here to explain the new document, some of the key players in California’s educational establishment were noticeably absent.

“The International Reading Assn. is the heart and soul of the whole language movement. We think we’ve had enough advice from them,” said Marion Joseph, a member of the state Board of Education who is largely credited with setting California on the phonics path.

“Why don’t they go someplace else?”

Still, a record 18,000 people--teachers, principals and others--have descended on this city’s seaside convention center.

Among the crowd is a sprinkling of educators from foreign countries. Some of them seem mystified by the classroom tug-of-war.

“What a mess,” said Ann-Sofie Lyytinen-Lund, a reading teacher from Finland, where instructors have broad latitude and students leave elementary school speaking at least three languages. “We believe in balanced instruction. To just do one or another would be unfair to the children.”

Svetlana Ushakova wondered aloud why so much energy is being expended on what is a nonexistent issue at her school in Moscow.

“No matter what approaches you use, if it gives results it should be OK,” she said. “We have to teach the mother tongue and English as well.”

To be fair, there is plenty here that seems totally removed from ideological fervor. There are, for example, the cocktail hours and seaside cruises hosted by publishers. The convention hall filled with book giveaways, a barbershop quartet and the smell of popcorn.

As always, the reading association is conducting its business--adopting next year’s budget (it’s $12 million).

And there are dozens of sessions, institutes and panel discussions. Some concentrate on preschool enrichment. Others focus on the use of computers to teach reading. Still others talk about infusing lessons with multicultural literature.

Goodman’s one-hour talk was among hundreds of sessions that fill an inch-thick catalog of events.

A grandfatherly figure with a white goatee, Goodman spoke about the absurdity of states turning phonics into law. And he hinted at a right-wing conspiracy.

“We’ve never had a period when so much power . . . to control law, money and administration is allied against us,” he told the 500 teachers at the session. “We have to use the power we have as voters, as citizens, to tell other people--the parents and the kids--to be alert to what is being done to them.”

More than 200 teachers lined up to buy Goodman’s black T-shirts. After his talk, many swarmed around him.

“I’m a Black Shirt,” one said in solidarity, as she hugged him and thanked him for his words.