California took a big step toward overhauling its reading curriculum.

Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill pushing for phonics based instruction in elementary and middle school classrooms.

The new law provides training for school principals and reading specialists in the science of reading, a method of literacy instruction focused on vocabulary, comprehension and sounding words out rather than learning words by sight.

The approach has led to improved reading scores in Mississippi, Louisiana, and districts like Los Angeles Uni.. which adopted it several years ago.

The law also updates the state's list of textbooks, flashcards, and other classroom reading materials to align with a phonics based approach.

Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, a Democrat from West Covina, is a former elementary teacher who coauthored the bill.

Despite the robust spending on K-12 education, California is facing a literacy crisis.

This bill ensures teachers have the tools they need to build student confidence and success in reading by strengthening professional development, modernizing instructional materials, and making sure administrators administrator training includes proven evidence based literacy strategies.

The California Reading Coalition surveyed 300 California school districts in 2022 and found that 80% wer.. based approach to reading instruction.

That's changing, with some of the state's largest districts adopting science of reading strategies and seeing good results.

L.A.

unifie.. saw its English language arts test scores jump 5.5 percentage points since it adopted a phonics based curriculum in 2022, according to the latest Nations report card scores.

California's reading scores are about the same as the national average, and those scores have been inching up since the pandemic.

Last year, 49% of students met or exceeded the state's English language arts standards, still below pre-pandemic levels, but a big increase from the previous year.

For CalMatters, I'm Robert Meeks, with reporting by Carolyn Jones.