Phonics

On Wal-Mart's aisle of educational toys and children's learning materials, dozens of brightly packaged products and cartoon-infused titles vie for parents' attention and a slice of their spending. There's the LeapFrog electronic writing pad, Dora the Explorer learning kits, SpongeBob SquarePants educational games -- and an old brand fighting to be new again.

Jeanne S. Chall, an influential psychologist whose research on reading opposed the educational tide and led to her unwavering belief in the importance of phonics, has died.

Remember "Hooked on Phonics"? Actually, who could forget? A few years back, you'd hear the company's farfetched claims of success--"I read a 120-page book after using one tape"--every time you turned on the radio.

California today is expected to complete its return to phonics as the foundation of reading instruction when the State Board of Education adopts new guidelines calling for students to learn basic word skills before tackling literature and other material.

Alarmed by his son's insipid textbooks, an electrical engineer named Blouke Carus sat down at his kitchen table in 1962 and transformed the way children would one day learn to read.

Juvenile offenders who received intensive phonics instruction for 11 weeks made significant gains in reading achievement, enabling the teenagers to overcome functional illiteracy, according to a new report by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.