It seems simple to me, and covers all the points that any of the education studies from the past decade or so mention, but it's rare.
There is the decoding (the ability to say a word that is written) and the understanding. Decoding is easier for most children, and they can decode sooner most words before they have understanding of those words.
So, teaching a child to read may not be as important as just reading to them. Reading to them allows them to build up a larger vocabulary, and allows them to give meaning to decoded words.
Putting this in the context of parent volunteers in schools: it's easy to see that a parent may be pronouncing the phonic sounds incorrectly, or may be subverting the techniques (moving to a look and say technique), or just generally adding some sub-optimal hints and shades.
I don't know about the HN population but methods for math have changed quite a lot. I'm re-learning so that I can help my son. There are very many innovations.