But it ignores all the other work that schools should be doing...
Such as?
But this should be easy to discover, right?
No. Choosing your goals is about subjective value choices. If nonsense words are intrinsically valuable, they should be included, otherwise they should be excluded.
You are conflating the setting of goals with the method used to achieve them. If phonics is superior (I agree with you that it is), it will achieve higher scores. If teaching children nonsense words helps them understand real words, then teachers wishing to maximize their score will teach them.
Ignore non-goals and focus on goals?
But it ignores all the other work that schools should be doing...
Such as?
But this should be easy to discover, right?
No. Choosing your goals is about subjective value choices. If nonsense words are intrinsically valuable, they should be included, otherwise they should be excluded.
You are conflating the setting of goals with the method used to achieve them. If phonics is superior (I agree with you that it is), it will achieve higher scores. If teaching children nonsense words helps them understand real words, then teachers wishing to maximize their score will teach them.