New York City Public Schools Superintendent David C. Banks announced earlier this week that the city’s public schools will shift from teaching children to use visual clues to predict words to phonics-based instruction.

The old way of teaching reading was considered unscientific and "flawed" by the head of New York's education department.

Banks said many places are facing similar problems. In Detroit, 91 percent of students at all levels are not proficient in reading, while in Chicago it is 80 percent. In New York, if you count black and Hispanic students separately, the reading proficiency rate is above 63 percent.

Mr. Banks said this has many consequences, citing evidence that 70% of adults arrested by police have reading abilities below a fourth-grade level.

Over the next two years, the city's 32 school districts with more than 700 schools will adopt one of three reading curricula, but all must teach the same method.

This is a major change from the previous school year when principals had full autonomy over how they taught. It is considered the most radical overhaul of reading instruction in New York City since the early 2000s.

The New York Department of Education's plan has the support of teachers unions but is opposed by many principals.

“We don’t think adopting a single curriculum is the way to achieve the city’s important goals,” said Henry Rubio, head of the principals’ association.

Some teachers worry that big changes often come with inadequate training.

But Mr Banks believes the changes will make things easier. Teacher training will begin in mid-May and continue through the summer so they can return to school fully prepared in the fall.

Dawn (According to CBS News )