New Yorks literacy crisis: Letters to the Editor Aug. 15, 2026

The Issue: Majority of third- to fifth-grade students in New York public schools failing their ELA test.There is no excuse for the declining literacy of New York students (“95% give NYC schools a failing grade,” Aug.9).My parents attended segregated schools in the Jim Crow South and still knew how to read, even though their schools didn’t receive the same amount of funding and attention as other schools.Why don’t we go back to teaching children how to read the way anyone over the age of 40 learned how to read: good old-fashioned phonics?James JohnsonBrooklynWhat is missing from stories about the abysmal reading and math scores in grades 3-8 is consideration of the cultures children live with at home.

The awful teachers unions are culpable, but no more so than these children’s parents and guardians.Speaking English proficiently, reading to your children and emphasizing learning — rather than watching TV — are crucial example-setting activities.To believe otherwise is a nanny-state mentality that will continue to result in wasted taxpayer money.Cary MacDonaldBoulder, Colo.Many decades ago, the method of teaching reading in public schools was changed from phonics to the dumb “look-say.” Now, New York City public school students can barely trudge through a sentence when asked to read from a selection.Meanwhile, parochial school students are excellent readers.

Why? Many parochial schools kept the phonics method of teaching reading.Public schools have wasted endless dollars on education methods that don’t work.Parents must insist the city rely much more on phonics.Maureen HealyManhattanThe teachers union deserves most of the blame for the stunning drop in ELA proficiency, but there’s another factor that has to be considered, and not just in New York City.Today’s families need to have two incomes.

That means kids are getting picked up by a latchkey program, instead of after-school hours.Then comes preparing dinner, cleaning up and baths.

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