As Oregon rolls out yet another initiative aimed at improving its dismal state reading scores, it's interesting to note the state once had it right. It was once a national leader in the "science of reading," almost 90 years before the term existed. Without investing in an independent program. Without requiring extensive teacher training courses. Without an array of manipulatives, worksheets, assessments, and neuropsychological exams.
A method taught to all children. In primary classrooms. In Portland.
The method is called Word Mastery: A Course in Phonics for the First Three Grades. Created by Florence Akin, a Portland primary school teacher, it was published in 1913.
Word Mastery consists of a 132-page book. That's it — except for a set of letter tiles "with multiples of the common letters," either bought or handmade.
Akin's slim volume revolutionized reading instruction in the United States. It was the first systematic, stand-alone phonics curriculum. Word Mastery spread nationwide in the 1920s, and Anna Gillingham — of Orton-Gillingham fame — used it while developing her own program. Gillingham reportedly called Word Mastery the "gold-standard framework for primary phonetic mastery."
Four key modalities
Word Mastery used four key modalities that align almost perfectly with the science of reading today:
- Ear training: Teaching children to listen intently to isolate and distinguish sounds.
- Tongue training: Practicing the physical articulation and proper pronunciation of those sounds.
- Eye training: Ensuring the visual recognition of letters and word combinations.
- Word building: Blending those recognized visual and audio symbols into complete words.
The program progressed incrementally from simple to complex, starting with individual letter sounds and ending with digraphs and phonetic rules — just like every science of reading program today.
Updated for the modern era
Akin's book was in vogue in the 1920s and '30s, before America U-turned from phonics to whole language and Dick and Jane books. In 2018, homeschool mom Sonja Glumich adapted Word Mastery into a 286-page manual called Elementary Phonics, crediting Akin as co-author. She expanded teacher explanations, provided a three-year plan of 309 lessons, and added phonics games.
"The lessons are short, self-contained, and self-explanatory," states the preface, "such that no preparation is required on the part of the instructor, beyond obtaining letter tiles for later lessons." It retails for $13.99. For three years of lessons.
Oregon, by contrast, has spent more than $250 million trying to improve its reading education over the past 25 years. In 1998, Oregon's eighth graders ranked in the top five states in reading scores. In the most recent assessment the state ranks last in fourth-grade scores.
One hundred and thirteen years ago, Florence Akin had it right. Maybe Oregon should look to its past to guide its future. Portland once held a rose. Maybe with a little cultivation, it could bloom again.