Sarah Tantillo, Ed.D. is the author of “The Literacy Cookbook” and “Hit the Drum: An Insider’s Account of How the Charter School Idea Became a National Movement,” as well as several other books.  She consults nationally with K-12 schools on literacy instruction, curriculum development, leadership, culture-building, mental wellness, and strategic planning.

One of the most common complaints in K-12 education is “There isn’t enough time to do everything.” That is one reason why people resist incorporating research findings or innovative solutions into their work: because they can’t see how to fit them in.

In the case of reading instruction, research in the science of reading has made it clear that in order to learn to read, students must be taught to decode and comprehend. But, as the APM podcast “Sold a Story” reported, for many years, schools did not teach decoding. There was little or no phonics instruction. When students encountered a word they didn’t know, teachers were trained to tell them to use the “three-cueing” strategy, which is basically: “Look at the picture and guess.” Students didn’t learn to sound out words. And when there were no pictures, they gave up.

In the suburbs, parents would think there was “something wrong with my kid” and hire tutors. In less-resourced communities, students simply didn’t learn how to read and were socially promoted. Because they couldn’t read on grade-level, they didn’t learn content, and they failed tests. They missed many opportunities to learn and reach their fullest potential. This went on for decades, and some people made assumptions about those children, those schools, and those communities.

Not teaching a child to read is the most devastating thing we could do to a child, to a family, and to a community. It should be every school’s number-one priority.

The good news is that more and more schools have begun to teach phonics.

But here’s the bad news: in my observation, two things are undermining this important initiative.

One, schools are not scheduling sacred time for phonics. So teachers are unsure “how to fit it in.” It feels like “just one more thing we don’t have time for.” As a result, many students are not receiving consistent, effective phonics instruction.

The second problem is that some teachers are STILL teaching three-cueing. This is not only a waste of time; it’s also DANGEROUS because it actively undermines phonics instruction. If students think they can either sound it out or look at the picture, what do you think they will do? Most will default to the easier thing: looking at the picture. And then, even though you think you’re teaching them how to sound out words, they’re actually not learning that. The three-cueing approach is so detrimental that it has actually been BANNED in more than ten states.

Let’s STOP doing things that don’t work.

School leaders need to clarify in no uncertain terms exactly when students will receive 30 minutes of phonics instruction every day. And teachers must stop using the three-cueing approach. Period.

We can do this. We HAVE to do this.