A Champion for Phonics

Marion Joseph, Gov. Pete Wilson’s newest appointee to the State Board of Education, can be depended on to push for reading instruction that emphasizes phonics, which teaches children to sound out words. But she will not completely abandon the whole language method, which introduces literature to beginning readers.

Joseph has battled on behalf of phonics since she discovered in 1989 that a grandson was having difficulty sounding out words because his teacher used the whole language approach, which had all but replaced phonics and spelling in the classroom. As California’s embarrassing reading test scores indicated, the whole language method, now discredited as a lone teaching approach, left a lot of children without the basic skills they needed to discern the letter sounds that are the building blocks of words.

Joseph also knows how Sacramento works. She served for 12 years as the top advisor to Wilson Riles when he was the state superintendent of public instruction. Delaine Eastin, who currently holds that post, appointed Joseph to a reading task force that in 1994 urged a balance between interesting literature and phonics. Since then, Joseph has prodded the state Department of Education to move quickly to restore phonics.

Marion Joseph has proved her persistence on behalf of a worthy cause and shown herself able to get things done. She is a good choice for the State Board of Education.