Did three renowned literacy specialists — along with their publishers — engage in “deceptive and fraudulent” marketing practices by promoting reading curricula that ignored research on the importance of phonics?
That question is at the heart of a lawsuit seeking class action status filed by two mothers Wednesday in Massachusetts Superior Court against Lucy Calkins, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Also named in the lawsuit are Greenwood Publishing Group, Heinemann Publishing, HMH Education Co., and the board of trustees of Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Citing a 1997 National Reading Panel’s finding that “all credible education and literacy research shows that daily phonics instruction is necessary for literacy success,” the lawsuit alleges that the defendants ignored scientific consensus and “peddled a raft of products and curricula that sought to diminish and even exclude systematic and daily phonics instruction.”
Phonics, the suit claims, were denigrated in this curriculum at worst and “paid mere lip service” at best.
As a result, parents Karrie Conley and Michele Hudak say in the lawsuit that the curricula, which was sold to schools nationwide, led to developmental and emotional injuries for their three children. They also allege financial losses for parents, who had to pay for tutoring and private school tuition to make up for their children's "literacy deficiencies" and educational delays.
In developing, promoting and selling “defective goods and services” to school districts, the three literacy specialists and their instructors violated Massachusetts consumer protection law, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages from exposure to the “ineffective and harmful products” and compensation for their expenses on tutoring, supplemental materials and other out-of-pocket costs. They are also requesting an order requiring that the defendants provide a free early literacy curriculum that incorporates the science of reading.
Of the three specialists named in the suit, Lucy Calkins — once a trailblazing and revered literacy expert — in particular has come under fire in recent years amid embrace of the science of reading approach to literacy instruction.
The science of reading instructional strategy emphasizes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
In contrast, Calkins’ “Units of Study” curriculum, also known as “balanced literacy,” advised teachers to read aloud from books and guide students to choose “just right” books based on their reading levels and interests. The approach placed more emphasis on identifying details such as theme, characters and plot rather than sounding out words.
In response to growing support for science of reading and phonics-based approaches to literacy, Calkins notably revised her curriculum in 2022 to place greater emphasis on phonics.
Teachers College, where Calkins has been a tenured professor of children’s literature, has distanced itself from her curriculum, closing her Reading and Writing Project in September 2023. At the time, EdSource reported Calkins was on sabbatical and had formed a new company, Mossflower Literacy.
On the other hand, Lesley University, where Fountas is director of the Center for Reading Recovery in the Graduate School of Education, and Ohio State University, where Pinnell is professor emerita in the School of Teaching and Learning, have stood by the two specialists’ curricula, according to APM Reports.
In 2022, Fountas and Pinnell Literacy issued a fact sheet seeking to address claims made about the two experts’ curricula and its application of tools like phonics.
Representatives for Heinemann and HMH Education could not immediately be reached for comment.
