After reading experts criticized Month by Month Phonics, the reading curriculum that he had originally selected for citywide implementation, on grounds that it lacked evidence of effectiveness, New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein has quietly decided to supplement it with a phonics-intensive program developed by Voyager Expanded Learning and based on sound reading research. City officials also announced last week that 119 additional schools would be exempted from all or part of the city's new standard reading and math curricula next year, along with the 209 schools that were previously granted waivers. The additional exemptions resulted from an appeals process to which 233 schools applied. In an article in the New York Daily News, Diane Ravitch notes that the city could have exempted even more schools from the new curriculum without lowering its standards - arguing that there are more good schools in the city than the chancellor has recognized.
"More intensive reading program is added for struggling pupils," by Abby Goodnough, The New York Times, April 5, 2003
"More schools are exempted from standard city curriculum," by David Herszenhorn, The New York Times, April 3, 2003
"Schools better than Klein lets on," by Diane Ravitch, New York Daily News, April 9, 2003