“The Right To Read” is a must-see (and-take-action) documentary about how reading is and isn’t taught in America.  If you are a parent who is wondering why your child doesn’t know how to read, or if you are an educator who has come into contact with a child who should know how to read or who struggles to read, this film is for you.

I’ve watched the film twice, and both times I felt a combination of hope and sadness. I hope that California’s governor @CAgovernor, California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction @CADeptEd, California’s Teaching Commission @CalCTC and the numerous teacher training and credentialing programs will pay attention to what is being said in this film and step up and make the considerable changes that are required to help teachers to teach students how to read. I hope that the “reading war” will come to an end. I hope that current and prospective teachers will themselves learn and use structured literacy and science-based reading instruction. I’m hoping that reading curriculum that is ubiquitous but ineffective will finally be put aside and replaced by structured literacy curriculum.

I’m sad because this issue has been taking place for years and it took a court settlement to even scratch the surface. I’m sad because parents, teachers, policymakers, curriculum developers have spent years going back and forth with one another about reading instruction. Children are suffering the consequences while adults are campaigning about how they are equity-minded, debating about what to call certain types of reading instruction, and researching the consequences of illiteracy.

The consequence of illiteracy is that children are being passed from grade level to grade level with low skills, and are not prepared for college nor career, but guess what? They are a pleasure to have in class.