Seeking to raise chronically low test scores, most of Los Angeles' elementary schools are switching to a single reading program that prescribes step-by-step phonics lessons and strictly governs how teachers do their jobs.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is following the lead of other major school systems in California by embracing Open Court, a heavily scripted program that dictates many details of daily instruction.
The program is being phased into kindergarten and first and second grades during the summer and fall. In all, 360 Los Angeles schools will use Open Court this school year--80% of the campuses that serve primary-grade students. Plans call for expanding to grades three to five next year.
"It's a good program," said new Los Angeles Supt. Roy Romer. "It's here to stay so long as it is the best we've got to work with."
L.A. Unified joins a growing list of school systems around the state that are turning to Open Court. Among the converts are Inglewood, Sacramento and 26 other districts using literacy coaches to reinforce the new methods.
The schools are part of a $45-million reform initiative funded by the private Packard Humanities Institute, a private foundation in Northern Californ.
The Inglewood and Sacramento schools have seen test scores rise for primary-grade students who use Open Court. But it remains to be seen whether those gains will be sustained over time.
"Open Court is a solid program, [but] achievement test scores become almost stubborn as you go up the grades," said Claude Goldenberg, associate dean of the College of Education at Cal State Long Beach and an authority on reading instruction.
"The reading agenda in the early grades is much more weighted toward letters and sounds," Goldenberg added. "It's more difficult to sustain the gains as kids go up the grades because reading is more cognitively challenging and requires the reader to bring more background knowledge to the task."
Open Court stresses daily practice in combining letters and sounds, along with regular writing exercises and readings from children's literature. The teacher's guide gives explicit instructions on how to teach every lesson.
Along with the new program, teachers are expected to administer diagnostic tests every six to eight weeks in spelling, vocabulary and other basic skills. Campuses then chart student progress and intervene with those who are failing.
