Education systems continued implementing the 'science of reading' in 2025, altering curricula, materials and teacher training across grades. Districts and states are moving beyond phonics to debates about comprehension strategies and supports for older struggling readers, with Education Week documenting classroom adoption and implementation challenges. Classroom-level debates also intensified over text selection: some teachers and districts raised objections to fragmenting reading assignments into shorter texts, sparking parent and educator discussion about assigning whole books to support deeper comprehension and student engagement.