Ontario Takes Good First Step Toward Restoring Foundational Blocks of Learning in Schools

Commentary Last week at a press conference in Toronto, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province’s kindergarten curriculum is going “back to basics,” expanding on a similar announcement for older grades last year. The proof will be in the pudding, but employing phonics and direct instruction in math and reading is a step in the right direction. Kindergarteners don’t read novellas or solve algebraic equations, but they form their understanding of early reading and math. In the classroom, the foundational building blocks—absorbing knowledge, memorizing facts, mastering skills—are laid to inform their critical thinking when they later turn to more advanced concepts....