LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Whole Language: Students
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Conducted among 374 first and second-graders lagging behind academically, the study found that students exposed to intensive phonics performed at the 42nd percentile on a nationally administered standardized test, while those in whole language classes were at the 23rd percentile. Another group of kids who were taught phonics, but mostly using on the words appearing in their reading, ranked just slightly better, at the 27th percentile.
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[W]hole-language derivatives are still popular, but they continue to fail the students who most need to benefit from the findings of reading research. Approaches such as Four Blocks and balanced literacy do not complement text reading and writing with strong, systematic, skills-based instruction, in spite of their claims. Only programs that teach all components of reading, as well as writing and oral language, will be able to prevent and ameliorate reading problems in the large number of children at risk.
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The mission of this paper is to describe what whole language is, why it is contradicted by scientific studies,7 how it continues in education, and what should be done to correct that situation. So long as whole-language ideas influence classroom practice to any great extent, students who are most dependent on effective instruction inside the classroom stand to lose. Recognizing and confronting bankrupt ideas and practices, even though they are masquerading under benign terms such as balanced reading, continues to be an important mission for education leaders and policymakers.
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Because knowledge doesn't exist separately from the people who construct it, whole language practitioners don't see curriculum as a prescribed course of study or a particular set of instructional materials. Instead, they see it as the cognitive experience each learner has. Whole language doesn't just include the specific content being thought about, it ... includes how a student "demonstrates" a particular task, as well as what he or she expects from a language learning situation.
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Despite overwhelming evidence, the reading field rushed to embrace unfounded whole-language practices between 1975 and 1995. The effects have been far-reaching, particularly for those students who are most dependent on effective instruction within the classroom.
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Certainly the US.DoE would be a likely candidate to use its financial resources to determine the success, or failures, that can be attributed to “whole language”. With 40-60 percent of US students reading below grade, getting rid of unsuccessful reading techniques would seem central to moving public education forward.
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