LAUSD Begins Open Court This Summer

This summer, the LAUSD began implementing Open Court, a detailed step-by-step phonics program, that officials hope will raise reading scores among elementary school students.

The program is being phased into kindergarten, first and second grades through the fall. Three hundred sixty schools or 80 percent of the campuses that serve primary-grade students will use Open Court this school year. Plans call for expanding to grades three to five next year.

Critics of Open Court say that the program is too scripted and stifles creativity. Proponents of the reading program point to higher test scores in districts that have adopted the method.

For more information on Open Court, check out "The Research Base of Open Court and Its Translation into Instructional Policy in California" by Margaret Moustafa and Robert Land of California State University Los Angeles.

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