How we teach reading can improve learning outcomes for life. It’s time to change the curriculum.

More than half of American third-graders do not read at grade level. In third grade, a student transitions from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” If one cannot read, one’s learning slows significantly.

While significant learning losses during the pandemic exacerbated the crisis, the trend was established pre-Covid. The root cause of the problem is how we teach reading. The most popular curricula used in schools nationwide teach students to guess words based on context and pictures, rather than how to decode text. This methodology, known as balanced literacy instruction, was promoted by educators who believed, without research, that boring phonics instruction would interfere with a child’s love of reading.

There is a solution supported by decades of global research on how the brain processes language, known as the “Science of Reading.” This structured literacy instruction works for English-language learners also. It is brain science, not English language-specific. Importantly, the Science of Reading is not exclusively decoding (phonemic awareness and phonics). It includes fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. In fact, when a student is identified as needing reading intervention assistance, specialists use a curriculum drawn from this science to help that student get back on track. Why don’t we just start with that methodology in the first place?

The solution is evidence-based and easily accessible.

Several states have done so, and with remarkable results. The “Mississippi Miracle” refers to the rising test scores in one of our poorest and least educated states. In Tennessee, the Department of Education has mandated both curriculum change and teacher training, and the results are improving. California does not proscribe curriculum because the voters determined that local districts would know best what their communities need.

Although the Monterey County Office of Education cannot mandate curriculum changes for districts, they have made evidence-based curriculum available for districts to review and pilot. They have also created and delivered a Science of Reading Academy for teachers, underwritten by a $1.5 million grant from Taylor Farms, for professional development.

Parents and guardians can ask administrators in your school district whether they are using English/Language Arts curriculum aligned with the Science of Reading, and if not, insist they do so. Frustrated Massachusetts parents have gone so far as to file suit against the creators and publishers of the current failed methods.

People become teachers because they want to help kids succeed; yet, we are not teaching our children to read. The solution is evidence-based and easily accessible.

We need to train and equip our teachers with what they need, so our future workforce can be successful.

SUSIE BRUSA was Rancho Cielo’s CEO for 12 years after leading large statewide sales organizations in telecom. Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce named her the 2017 “Businesswoman of the Year.” She consults for Taylor Farms’ charitable efforts.