Superintendent of Schools, in Groveton, New Hampshire, he served one of the 20 poorest counties in the country. He was chargedby his School Board to "do something" about the poor reading scores, which were then averaging in the 45th percentile. Everyone, including teachers, parents,and board members, was dissatisfied. After considerable study and research, he concluded the following: "At a point in our not-too-distant past - some would putthe time in the 1920's or '30's - a conflagration was let loose in our nation's classrooms, a bonfire of confusion in the form of a new reading method, look-say, orwhole word, which devastated the reading ability of several generations of children, which blackened the landscape of reason, which has given us the scarredlegacy we recognize today as illiteracy."But rather than wring his hands in despair, or ask for more money, Mr. Micciche and his teachers decided to try intensive, systematic phonics. After a two-weektraining course, about a third of the primary teachers wanted to try the system. Within three months, the success of their children was so dramatic, all of theircolleagues joined in the trial program. Another full year's trial was conducted, and the test scores climbed to, and remained at, the mid-to-high 60th percentilerange. At the urging of the staff, and with the enthusiastic support of the parents, intensive phonics was in, and "look and say" was out.The success of intensive systematic phonics was evident in the improvement of academic achievement, but another side benefit not to be overlooked was itscost-effectiveness. The old "look and say" system was costing about twenty dollars per child per year to maintain. The cost of the new program over an eight-yearperiod amounted to an average annual cost of less than three dollars per pupil. All of this for a program that worked, satisfied the staff and community, liftedreading scores to the mid-sixties on standardized tests, and gave remarka...
