The National Reading Panel, a group created by Congress that studied what reading instruction works best, suggests that phonics and related skills, vocabulary, fluency and reading comprehension are the cornerstones of effective reading instruction. The Panel has researched reading instruction and their conclusion was phonics-based instruction is the only method that works. Some who adhere to the phonics-based camp would argue that teaching any other method is paramount to education malpractice.

There appears to be some backlash as to the phonics only approach, which is the only reading instruction method that's backed by the United States Department of Education. A New York Times article reported on the latest upheaval in the reading instruction battle.