Want to know if it’s time for phonics in Belinda Williams’s kindergarten classroom? Stand in the hall and listen. “I love phonics because it’s something that’s so easy to make fun,” Williams said. “We ...

On a chilly Tuesday back in January, my 7-year-old son’s classroom in Minneapolis was humming with reading activities. At their desks, first- and second-graders wrote on worksheets, read independently ...