Two of the synthetic phonics programs, Letters and Sounds (L&S) and Early Reading Research (ERR), used by English primary schools to teach young children to read are equally effective overall.

To the editor: In 1970, I was a student teacher and then a second-grade teacher in New York. I later became a learning and reading specialist and taught the teachers. Throughout my training, I learned ...

To the editor: “English is a phonetic language,” states a letter writer who taught reading — but, I must add, only to a point. Just a brief look at the previous sentence will show numerous exceptions ...

A new study has found evidence of big gains in students’ reading ability from using one specific phonics program—and suggests that consistent implementation is key to getting the strongest results.