This month, I went to school for parent-teacher conferences. My second-grader’s self-evaluation form listed several categories: “I follow directions,” “I understand math,” “I like to read,” and one we hadn’t been asked about before: spelling. In fact, over the summer, he had literally asked me: “What is spelling?”

Most parents educated in the 1980s remember a fair amount of explicit instruction on spelling. Today, you cannot assume that spelling is being taught to your children. Many schools have shifted their focus elsewhere.

Related Articles

We are losing something important when schools move away from the basics, letting technology fill in the gaps with spellcheck. Or allowing childish spellings that are cute until they are not.

A 2021 review found that “a growing number of schools

See Full Page