Low Reading Test Scores

* News item, April 28: California ranks last among 39 states that participated in a survey of reading skills.

News item last month: California places last among 50 states in average hours libraries are open per week.

Another recent news item: California budget for prisons exceeds the education budget for the first time in history.

Conclusion: As our elected officials and bureaucrats receive more and more in ever escalating inflation-adjusted benefits (pay, perks and pensions), crucial services like education and libraries for our children are being slowly strangled.

GARTH BISHOP

Los Angeles

* After reading about the low reading scores of our students, I would like to state: California students ranked 39th in the nation in reading scores; California average class size is the largest in the nation; California per pupil spending ranks near the bottom among the 50 states.

Taxpayers--you get what you pay for!

CHARLOTTE WHITTINGTON

Fountain Valley

* To suggest, as Gov. Pete Wilson’s top educational adviser, Maureen DiMarco, does, that the fault for the poor results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress test lies with the state’s move away from teaching reading using phonics, is ridiculous.

If DiMarco were to visit classrooms she would discover that new approaches have been staunchly opposed and ignored by most teachers. Also, DiMarco should read the California Language Arts framework and become more knowledgeable about the whole language approach with which she is so quick to find fault. It might surprise her to discover that phonics has not been taken out of reading instruction. It is viewed as an important part of reading instruction that should be taught in meaningful contexts and completed in the early grades.

Finally, it baffles me how one can assert that placing more emphasis on phonics will improve such reading tasks as understanding the plot of stories, gaining information from texts and using written material to learn how to do something. These tasks were measured on the NAEP test and have nothing to do with phonics. In fact, I believe it is the overemphasis of phonics instruction in our classrooms that is turning students off to reading and is perpetuating their poor reading performance on standardized tests.

MARCY B. DYMENT, Teacher

Heliotrope Avenue Elementary School

L.A. Unified School District

* It seems clear that a leading indicator of the social and economic future of any state (or nation) is the average reading score of its students. As a retired aerospace manager, I can objectively testify regarding the vital importance of clear, unambiguous, written communication among all departments and levels of a project team. Of all the ominous news we have heard about threats to California’s future, the article regarding our students’ average reading score is among the most threatening.

How can we rationalize our image of California as leading the nation in public education, technology, business and the arts with the fact that our fourth-graders ranked at the very bottom(!) of the 39 states which participated in the test? Whatever the reasons for this disgraceful showing, our future is dim as long as this barometer of the most basic attribute of an enlightened citizenry and a skilled work force remains low.

ROBERT S. TUCKER

Westlake Village