Flipping the card over, she began to read. 鈥淲hen,鈥� she said. 鈥淲-H-E-N.鈥� She placed the card back on the table and announced she wanted to keep going.

鈥淕ood job!鈥� Madison Schwab, her first-grade co-teacher responded.

She tried another one. 鈥淔ret. F-R-E-T,鈥� she carefully and triumphantly sounded out. 

Scarlett and her Success Academy classmates, all sitting in clusters of three or four, were playing a new literacy game called Popped!. 

At the next table, a group of students chatted with one of the game鈥檚 creators: world-renowned artist Jeff Koons, whose famous sculpture, Balloon Dog, just turned 30 and serves as the game鈥檚 mascot. 

鈥淭here is a tremendous problem with education,鈥� Koons bluntly told 社区黑料 in an interview Thursday, referring to reading instruction. Of the science of reading, which the game is meant to bolster, he said, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 wonderful.鈥�

Popped! was created in collaboration with , a company that promotes literacy through table-top games. Jacquelyn Davis founded Clever Noodle after she noticed her son, Madden, struggling to read during the pandemic. 

A former teacher and school leader, she began creating games, which she says are based on the science of reading and its emphasis on phonics instruction, to get her son back on track. At the encouragement of Madden鈥檚 teacher, Davis said she decided to fill the need for other students as well. 

鈥淲e want reading to be so much fun that they don鈥檛 even know they鈥檙e learning,鈥� Davis added. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e beyond grateful that Mr. Koons is going to work with us.鈥�

In the first-grade classroom, Tanisha, 7, sat at a table in the back, surrounded by colorful posters and signs. Of Popped! she said, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fun because I like reading, and I like reading books, too.鈥� Her favorites? The Fly Guy and Elephant Piggy series. 

Tanisha packed up the game and headed to the rug where Koons was presented with drawings and cards to celebrate Balloon Dog鈥檚 big birthday. 

The father of seven thanked the students for their artwork saying, 鈥淓ach one of these is so special 鈥� we are all artists.鈥�

鈥淲hen you see the blue dog in the future,鈥� he continued, 鈥渋t’s smiling back at you.鈥�

Clever Noodle released Popped! in the midst of a nationwide literacy crisis and a reckoning with how schools have historically taught reading. As of April, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws or implemented policies related to evidence-based literacy instruction that broadly fall under the science of reading umbrella, according to an   

Davis noted that they were excited to bring the game to Success Academy because they were already integrating the best practices of evidence-based literacy instruction. Since its founding in 2006, the 55-public school charter network, the largest in New York, has used a phonics program for all kindergarten and first grade students. 

Koons and Davis are hoping to extend this sort of learning that is also exciting to other students through the game. 

Koons has his own reading story. He shared that he grew up with a mild astigmatism, a curve in the eye’s surface which blurs vision, which made reading challenging and, he believes, ultimately pulled him more towards the visual world. But, as an adult, reading greatly impacts his work. 

鈥淲hen I make a body of work I look back and think, 鈥極h, I was reading this philosophical text and I was reading this novel鈥� 鈥� It just activates the mind.鈥�

Koons is widely known for his stainless-steel sculptures depicting everyday objects, including the iconic Rabbit and Balloon Dog pieces. In 2019, a $91 million sale of his Rabbit sculpture set a new , for a living artist. 

Davis relayed that when Koons was younger, he felt intimidated and not welcomed when he walked into a museum. His response was to make art that was accessible, inviting and helped people find themselves. 

鈥淔or us, reading is that,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淩eading makes the world accessible. Reading makes math accessible. It makes science accessible 鈥� I love that [Koons] focuses on accessibility because for me reading is about access to the world.鈥�

鈥淭hat was put so well,鈥� the artist responded. 

As the presentation concluded, Davis announced that all of the students would get their own Popped! to bring home.

鈥淲e hope you have a great time playing 鈥� and we hope you do a lot of practice over the summer, so you can stay smart and come back to school ready.鈥�

Disclosure: Campbell Brown sits on Success Academy network board of directors emeritus. Brown co-founded 社区黑料 and sits on its board of directors.

The presidents of both the Ohio Education Association and Ohio Federation of Teachers praised DeWine for making literacy a priority in a new state budget bill. But both object to DeWine鈥檚 attempt in that same bill to make Ohio one of the first states to ban teachers using 鈥渃ueing鈥� 鈥� having young students figure out what a word is through context or pictures 鈥� in reading lessons. 

That strategy is a large part of long-used teaching approaches like whole language or balanced literacy.

鈥淚 would strongly, strongly urge the house to consider removal of language that explicitly bans any particular instructional practices,鈥� OEA President Scott DiMauro told an Ohio House subcommittee considering DeWine鈥檚 plan last week.

DiMaruo said if the state offers training and teaching materials for science of reading, 鈥渢here’s no need for the heavy hand of the state government to single out any specific instructional practices.鈥�

OFT President Melissa Cropper said limiting teachers to one approach would take away other methods that may work best for some students.

鈥淏anning certain methods opens the door to politically-charged attacks that can limit a teacher鈥檚 ability to choose the most appropriate method for meeting a student鈥檚 needs,鈥� she told the subcommittee.

But DeWine, acting state education superintendent Stephanie Siddens and legislative leaders in the state鈥檚 Republican majority, which has often dismissed union concerns, are not deviating from DeWine鈥檚 plan to join Arkansas and Louisiana in banning cueing in favor of phonics-based lessons. Teachers still hope ongoing discussions with DeWine and his staff can help shape the final bill.

DeWine has been promoting science of reading at events in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, including a discussion Thursday in which former Mississippi state Superintendent Carey Wright came to Columbus to tell how changing to science of reading approaches helped students there leap from 49th in 4th grade reading nationally in 2013 to 22nd in 2022 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Siddens called three-cueing 鈥渃ounter-productive鈥� for students after that event, in which Wright and others dismissed that approach as having children 鈥済uess鈥� at words.

鈥淵ou can’t guess your way into reading,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淵ou have to be taught explicitly how to read.鈥�

DeWine, when told after that meeting that teachers had called his plan too limiting, disagreed: 鈥淭he science of reading is not one size fits all.鈥� 

鈥淟ook at what the state of Mississippi did,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey did it, frankly, by being very strong in regard to the science of reading. So the evidence is just 鈥� there.鈥�

Andrew Brenner, the Republican chairman of Ohio鈥檚 Senate Education Committee, said he sees such strong support for DeWine鈥檚 plan he sees less need to file a separate bill to require phonics to be taught.

鈥淲e believe that the governor鈥檚 plan will get through the budget mostly intact,鈥� he said.

He dismissed teachers鈥� objections about banning cueing, asking if teachers prefer the low reading scores of many third graders on state tests, which DeWine has cited as a reason for his push.

Cropper said blaming any teaching approach for low scores 鈥渋s an unsafe assumption.鈥�

鈥淭here has been no analysis done on which districts are using which teaching methods or curriculum,鈥� she said. 鈥淢any other factors contribute to students鈥� academic success including their socioeconomic status.鈥�

More than half of all states have passed laws encouraging or incorporating science of reading in classrooms, as the so-called 鈥渞eading wars鈥� have ramped up over the last 10 years. Ohio has made science of reading part of the state鈥檚 recommended literacy improvement strategy since 2018, but has not required schools to use it.

DeWine鈥檚 proposed ban would go much further. Similar legislation has been filed in Indiana (SB 402), New Hampshire (HB 437), Florida (SB 758), West Virginia (SB 274), and Texas (HB 2162) with experts expecting more soon in Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Mississippi, however, did not have such a ban to achieve the results DeWine praised. After DeWine and Carey spoke at the same event last week, the OFT鈥檚 Cropper asked Carey from the audience if Mississippi needed a ban or just focused on promoting and teaching science of reading.

Carey said there was no such ban, but the state continually told schools and teachers to avoid cueing and that teachers were often glad to be trained in science of reading methods, for which they received continuing education credits.

Both Cropper and DiMauro testified they would prefer promoting science of reading over any bans or mandating training for all teachers as DeWine wants. They praised DeWine for setting aside money in the budget for training, stipends for teachers doing the training, and for books and other curriculum materials for districts wanting to change.

But they raised concerns over DeWine鈥檚 aim to have the entire state change by the fall of 2024 and forcing even high school science and math teachers to do training. They noted that the state department of education doesn鈥檛 have a training plan yet, doesn鈥檛 know how long such training would need to be, how many teachers already have strong science of reading training and how well state teacher training programs are teaching it.

鈥淲e ask that all of you seriously look at, not just what does it take to implement or impose some state level mandates in terms of literacy instruction, but to truly get buy-in and meaningful implementation of that program,鈥� DiMauro said. 鈥淲e know there are many unanswered questions right now.鈥�

Currently, state law allows districts to teach reading however they want. Under his proposed bill, Gov. Mike DeWine would force them to pick only phonics-based Science of Reading materials from a list the Ohio Department of Education will create. 

Dewine has also asked the state legislature to ban use of any 鈥渢hree cueing鈥� materials or lessons 鈥� an approach considered the foundation of popular teaching methods known as Whole Language, Balanced Literacy or, particularly in Ohio, Reading Recovery. 

鈥淭he jury has returned,鈥� DeWine, a Republican, said in his State of the State speech late last month where he led off his address with the importance of the Science of Reading. 鈥淭he evidence is clear. The verdict is in.鈥�

鈥淭here is a great deal of research about how we learn to read,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd today, we understand the great value and importance of phonics. Not all literacy curriculums are created equal, and sadly, many Ohio students do not have access to the most effective reading curriculum.鈥�

DeWine is seeking $129 million from the legislature to retrain teachers and replace elementary school textbooks. 

With hearings on the bill just beginning, it鈥檚 still unclear whether DeWine鈥檚 ban, which other states are also considering, will win support. 

While DeWine鈥檚 plan to back the Science of Reading won strong applause at his speech and praise from some Republicans, there has been no debate yet on his ban, which only became public when bill language was released a week ago. And one of the state鈥檚 teachers unions has raised concerns about mandating a single approach to teaching reading.

There could also be logistical issues to such a dramatic shift going into effect in less than 19 months. 

How many Ohio schools or teachers will need to change how reading is taught remains unclear: The state does not track how many teachers are trained in the Science of Reading or how many elementary schools are using it to teach children. The state education department could only say that 鈥渕any鈥� teachers are not trained in the Science of Reading. 

Additionally, the state鈥檚 Department of Higher Education said  it does not know which reading methods colleges and universities are training prospective teachers in.

DeWine鈥檚 ban also puts Ohio State University鈥檚 Reading Recovery, a widely used reading intervention program based on three-cueing, in his crosshairs. Officials of the program did not respond to requests for comment.

The so-called 鈥淩eading Wars鈥� of the last decade have pitched supporters of phonics against those who back related methods like whole language and balanced literacy in which students are taught to guess words they don鈥檛 know from cues such as context, pictures or letters.

As studies in support of phonics and other Science of Reading concepts have mounted, even ardent champions of other methods like Lucy Calkins of Columbia University鈥檚 Teachers College have backed down and started incorporating more phonics into their books and lessons.

In the last 10 years, more than half of all states have passed laws encouraging or incorporating Science of Reading in classrooms. Ohio has moved in that direction in recent years, making Science of Reading part of the state鈥檚 recommended literacy improvement strategy, but not requiring schools to use it.

Only a few states have gone as far as DeWine proposes, including Arkansas and Louisiana, which have already banned schools from using any of the methods based on three-cueing. 

But officials in eight other states are joining Ohio in seeking similar bans, according to Tom Greene, national legislative director for ExcelinEd in Action, the education advocacy group created by former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. 

Legislation has been filed in Indiana (SB 402), New Hampshire (HB 437), Florida (SB 758), West Virginia (SB 274), and Texas (HB 2162) with bills expected soon in Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina outlawing three-cueing, he said.

鈥淓liminating three cueing is a strong step in the right direction to ensure all kids are proficient readers by the end of the third grade,鈥� Greene said. 鈥淭hese state leaders are looking at the research, hearing personal stories of struggling readers and listening to the concerns of teachers about the harmful effects of this approach.鈥�

But Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, one of two teachers unions in the state, has already said educators shouldn鈥檛 be limited in how they teach reading. 

DiMauro said last week 鈥� before the full scope of DeWine鈥檚 plan was made public 鈥� that all teachers use phonics as part of their lessons, but they are 鈥渏ust one piece of a larger puzzle鈥� when it comes to teaching reading, and that a聽鈥渙ne size fits all鈥� solution was not a good move.聽

 鈥淎s far as saying approach x versus approach y, as a prescribed reading plan, we don’t don’t think it’s appropriate,鈥� DiMauro said. 

Ohio State Senate education committee chair Andrew Brenner, who plans his own bill to require phonics, predicted the change would not only affect elementary schools, but also the state鈥檚 universities and teacher training programs. 

DeWine鈥檚 plan sets aside $43 million in each of the next two years for the Ohio Department of Education to create training in the Science of Reading for any teacher who hasn鈥檛 had it, run training sessions and pay teachers a stipend for attending.

DeWine鈥檚 plan is built into his proposed two-year state budget. Though the budget bill won鈥檛 likely be passed until just before the end of June, portions of it could be split off for a vote sooner as part of Brenner鈥檚 bill or others.

Let me get this hard sell on the table right up front: You should listen to 鈥�,鈥� a podcast about reading instruction in U.S. schools. After all, you can be concerned that 1 in 3 American fourth graders read and still not want a deep dive into how literacy is taught. But 鈥淪old a Story鈥� is about more than a national problem; it鈥檚 about a deeply personal struggle experienced by families of all kinds.

In the hands of adept reporter and storyteller Emily Hanford, that deep dive unfolds with crystal clarity, emotional anchors and dramatic cliffhangers to spotlight why many students struggle to read: It is because many schools don鈥檛 teach them the specific skills they need to successfully do so.

The podcast’s basic premise is that extremely popular approaches to teaching young kids to read 鈥� to decode written words 鈥� give short shrift to explicit lessons that connect letters in words to the sounds they represent. In many schools, this explicit phonics instruction is sprinkled into reading lessons, but in woefully inadequate amounts and crowded out by other strategies, including 鈥渢hree-cueing鈥� 鈥� which coaches students to use context or pictures to guess what unknown words are. Research, much of it decades old and now called the , shows that systematic phonics instruction is key to helping students become fluent readers. But these other approaches have largely ignored it.

Why? In six episodes, Hanford and her colleague Christopher Peak deftly stitch together the complete picture: an overview of those popular approaches to reading instruction, the national political battle over how to teach literacy and the reading guru whose three apostles, with their billion-dollar publishing company, championed this flawed approach.

The podcast focuses on the idea, established by reading guru Marie Clay, that children can become readers by leaning on context clues instead of sounding out words. Two very popular curricula from celebrated authors 鈥� “Units of Study for Teaching Reading” from Lucy Calkins and “Leveled Literacy Intervention” from Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell 鈥� were the primary promoters of this flawed idea in school districts and education schools across the country, generating millions of dollars for them and their publisher, Heinemann.

Throughout, Hanford and Peak ground these episodes not in who should be blamed, but in who bears the consequences. The fallout is hitting students struggling to learn to read, parents flummoxed by their children’s lack of progress and teachers who keep saying something like, 鈥淚f only I had known. 鈥︹��

Of course, the significance of that fallout hinges on whether Hanford and Peak鈥檚 provocative claims about the scope and quality of these curricula are actually correct. There are compelling reasons to believe they are.

Regarding its scope, a 2019 nationally representative Education Week found that “Leveled Literacy” intervention was used by 43% of K-2 early reading and special education teachers, while “Units of Study” was used by 16%. These curricula are Heinemann’s biggest sellers. Hanford and Peak found Heinemann brought in over $233 million in the past decade from just the 100 largest districts. Imagine their business across the remaining 13,000 smaller school districts.聽

As to the quality, EdReports, a nonprofit reviewer of K-12 instructional materials, last year found lacking 鈥� labeling both as 鈥渄oes not meet expectations.鈥� However, you need not lean on expert reviews to see the disconnect in this curricular approach. In a tacit admission, Calkins revised her 鈥淯nits of Study鈥� curriculum to incorporate the Science of Reading. The disconnect is even plainer in Fountas and Pinnell鈥檚 of their approach that encourages guessing words from context. They write, 鈥淚f a reader says 鈥榩ony鈥� for 鈥榟orse鈥� because of information from the pictures. 鈥� His response is partially correct, but the teacher needs to guide him to stop and work for accuracy.鈥�

That response lays bare how detached their approach is from teaching students to actually read text. Getting 鈥減ony鈥� from the word 鈥渉orse鈥� can be 鈥減artially correct鈥� only if the goal is something other than teaching students to read accurately, because it rewards children for learning to do something other than read the word. It rewards guessing. Such a strategy might get students partial meaning in the short run, but it will produce struggling readers over time. Indeed, it has.

Hanford deserves credit for her work championing the Science of Reading and pressing the case against predominant approaches to literacy used in many schools across a nation of struggling readers. Fortunately, some states and districts are . recently outlawed three-cueing, and New York City has to increase phonics instruction. But it will take time and deliberate efforts to change instruction in schools. In the interim, 鈥淪old a Story鈥� gives frustrated parents of struggling readers good questions to ask and the courage to demand better instruction. Clear, engaging and, yes, enraging reporting like this can help policymakers, teachers and families ensure that they are not sold a story that might hold their young readers back.