Blast from the Past: This entry first appeared on November 6, 2021 and was re-issued on August 2, 2025. We’re at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. Reading scores haven’t recovered from the COVID debacle, too many kids and teachers are missing school, and many states have adopted laws or policies aimed at beefing up decoding instruction. Concerns about the “science of reading” continue to arise in media coverage and policy debates, so this earlier published article still has relevance. This blog argues that the reform of reading instruction should depend on instr...