In the urgent debate over how U.S. schools teach children to read, few figures have been as central as Lucy Calkins, the Columbia University professor and curriculum entrepreneur. For four decades, her organization, the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and her widely purchased curriculum inspired passion among many educators. Critics said Dr. Calkins downplayed phonics and overlooked a large body of scientific research on how children become skilled readers. Now her group has been dissolved by Columbia University’s Teachers College, according to a recent announcement. It marks the end of an era for Teachers College and perhaps another setback for balanced literacy, the embattled movement in which Dr. Calkins is one of several prominent leaders.

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Persons: Lucy Calkins, Critics, Calkins Organizations: Columbia University, Teachers College Reading, Columbia University’s Teachers College, Teachers College