LETTER: Let’s teach Clark County students how to read

While the reading scores of fourth- and eighth-grade students remain poor, the teachers unions and the Clark County School District education overlords remain in denial. Teaching kids to read phonetically was successful for many, many years. My two sons got caught in the change to the newfangled “three-cueing” teaching method back in the early ’90s. They were both struggling with reading, and I had to step in and teach them phonics at home.

You might remember a program called “Hooked on Phonics” that hit the market in 1987. It’s still available, and you can read the history online. For far too long, educators have been in denial about how to teach kids to read. If a child can’t read he or she doesn’t have a chance in life. When 40 percent of fourth-graders and a full one-third of eighth-graders can’t read at grade level, it’s a national and Southern Nevada disgrace. It’s time for educators — especially in the Clark County School District — to wake up and get back to the basics that actually work: teaching phonics.