Atticus learns to read: Teaching phonics works

Teaching phonemic awareness and phonics systematically for 30 minutes a day led to significantly higher literacy skills for kindergarten and first-grade students, reports a new study.

After a year of UFLI Foundations, students' scores were more than a standard deviation above similar students who received "business-as-usual" instruction, University of Florida and WestEd researchers report. "Students of teachers who taught with greater adherence to the UFLI Foundations program had larger effects."

Atticus Lugo is a UFLI student in Leon County, Florida.

Kindergarteners who were considered "at risk" at the start of the year tested as "minimal risk" by year's end, if they received UFLI instruction, the study reports. That signifies no need for special help in reading. Those who in the control group remained "at risk."

On average, UFLI first graders started at the border between "at risk" and "some risk" and ended at the border between "some risk" and "minimal risk." The control group remained at the at risk/some risk level.

The program was tested in a district in which 80 percent of students come from lower-income families: 40 percent are black, 12 percent Hispanic and 35 percent white.