There is no Democrat or Republican way to teach reading. There is a correct, scientifically based way and an incorrect, guess-work-based way. It just so happens that conservatives have long championed the correct way, and progressives have long been enchanted by the incorrect way. With rampant learning loss, and states still flush with COVID-19 relief cash, it’s time to follow the Deep South’s lead and focus on the science of reading.

If public education manages to turn the corner, history may record that journalist Emily Hanford did more to promote literacy than the combined might of American philanthropy. That’s because her recent, compelling podcast series homed in on the single most important — yet somehow broadly ignored — policy question: Why do so many schools get basic literacy instruction wrong?