XPost: ca.politics, alt.government.employees, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.education   
   From: snothomish@wa.goofs   
      
   Gov. Gavin Newsom devoted most of his final State of the State address   
   last week to touting what had been accomplished during the past seven   
   years, and one boast was about California’s public school system   
   educating nearly 6 million kids in grades K-12.   
      
   Newsom said his new budget would increase spending on the system to   
   $27,418 per student, which includes federal money. He highlighted   
   expansions in pre-kindergarten, programs before and after school and the   
   melding of education with social and health care programs in “community   
   schools.”   
      
   “These multi-year investments in education, they are paying off,” Newsom   
   told legislators. “Just this year, we’ve seen improved academic   
   achievement in every subject area, in every grade level, in every   
   student group, with greater gains in test scores for Black and Latino   
   kids. These gains are particularly pronounced in Los Angeles, the   
   nation’s second-largest school district.”   
      
   It sounded great but must be placed in a not-so-wonderful context.   
      
   Overall, California’s public school test scores not only fare poorly in   
   comparison to those in other states, but have lost ground in some key   
   areas, as latest results from the National Assessment of Educational   
   Progress revealed in September.   
      
   In fourth-grade reading skills, a vital area since reading comprehension   
   is the door to mastering all other subjects, California ranked an   
   embarrassing 37th among the states in 2024 tests. Just 29% of its   
   students achieved proficient levels, down two points from 2022. Black   
   and Latino fourth-graders appeared to struggle the most.   
      
   California’s low reading scores should not be a surprise to anyone who   
   has observed the state’s decades-long conflict over how it should be   
   taught, dubbed the “reading wars.” For too long, California’s education   
   leaders insisted on experimenting with trendy theories of reading   
   instruction, such as “whole language,” while dismissing advocates of   
   time-tested phonics as old-fashioned and even reactionary.   
      
   Other states acted while California fiddled around, having concluded   
   that the way previous generations of students mastered reading was still   
   valid. One of them was Mississippi, one of the nation’s poorest states.   
      
   As the New York Times recently reported in great detail, Mississippi was   
   49th in fourth-grade reading proficiency in 2013, but state leaders   
   acknowledged the damage and decided to do something about it. Central to   
   the state’s reform was adoption of the “science of reading,” the current   
   name for phonics, while targeting efforts on kids in the early grades in   
   an effort to prepare them for learning at all levels.   
      
   “Science of reading is really important; it was a key piece of what we   
   did,” Rachel Canter, who heads an education reform group Mississippi   
   First, told the Times. “But people are missing the forest for the trees   
   if they are only looking at that.”   
      
   Mississippi also set tough academic standards and state political   
   leaders made improvement a top-drawer issue — not just one of many. The   
   latest national assessments found that Mississippi now has the   
   ninth-highest fourth-grade reading scores.   
      
   It’s odd that, as Newsom ticked off points of educational pride, he   
   didn’t mention the most important one: California’s adoption of phonics   
   as its primary reading instruction last year. The new law enjoyed strong   
   support from a governor who struggles with dyslexia.   
      
   Newsom’s boast about per-pupil spending exemplifies the Capitol’s focus   
   on money in its education debates, rather than results. While a much   
   smaller state, Mississippi spends scarcely half of what California does   
   yet does a better job of teaching children to read.   
      
   Over the next few years, we’ll learn whether California’s educational   
   establishment will finally embrace phonics, and whether we can catch up   
   with Mississippi.   
      
   https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/01/california-education-spending-r   
   eading-scores/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)