Newsom rolls out K-12 ‘biliteracy’ resources as majority fail English standards

(The Center Square) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond rolled out two new teacher training resources to “strengthen literacy-biliteracy instruction” statewide, including a “Preschool Through Third Grade (P–3) Learning Progressions for Language and Literacy Development” package that supports “early literacy in both English and students’ home languages.” 

“With this release, California takes a significant step forward in providing educators with the tools they need to foster strong literacy and biliteracy development from the earliest years of learning as we move the needle on student achievement, particularly for our youngest readers,” said Thurmond in a statement.

According to the latest test results for the 2023-2024 school year, the majority of California students did not meet standards for reading, except for 11th grade, in which 55.73% of students met or exceeded state standards. 

The results were worse for younger students, with just 42.8% of the state’s third graders meeting basic reading standards. 

By grade three, for example, students are supposed to be able to “distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters” and “describe characters in a story … and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.” That’s according to California Common Core State Standards.

Republicans noted that the state does not appear to be pushing for phonics-based instruction. Assembly Bill 1121, which would have mandated phonics-based reading instruction — the traditional and scientifically-backed reading instruction method used by most schools until recently — failed this year, as a similar bill did last year. 

“This is classic Newsom,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher to The Center Square. “Dress up failure in a bunch of edu-buzzwords and hope no one notices kids still can’t read. There’s no mention of the state’s collapsing test scores. No push for real phonics-based instruction.”

AB 1454, a new “compromise” bill that creates a voluntary state phonics program, now faces the Assembly floor after passing through the Assembly Appropriations and Education committees without any opposing votes. 

A recent Stanford study found that phonics-based reading programs in California serving the state’s 75 worst-performing schools comparatively accelerated reading learning by 25% and boosted math advancement by 12% relative to students in schools that didn’t adopt the programs. The program cost $1,144 per pupil per year, resulting in relative learning achievement 13 times more cost-effective than general school funding increases.