how are schools handling students who memorize books but can't actually decode

DaisyAnneReturns mentioned it earlier - I wanted to elaborate a little.
Forgot to say you had talked about it Daisy

Excellent post, NotSpaghetti.

I would say, from experience, that the guesses at words are usually wild rather than intelligent

How anyone can defend any part of this ludicrously unscientific method of teaching reading is completely beyond me...

Speaking of science, neuroscientists say that the word identification process starts with breaking it into its component letters and builds from there. That the whole word ID process done by skilled readers takes a matter of milliseconds; which I think is the reason that people think that phonics is irrelevant to word ID. Whereas it is fundamental.

Thanks NotSpaghetti. Good clarification.

Used in the USA explains it.

UK schools often start with picture books where the children are encouraged to talk about the pictures, but the words are not included. These books encourage pre-readers to infer plot from visual cues, learn how to turn pages, and narrate the action in their own words.

NB Even though we introduced it at pre- school meetings with parents, including demonstrations of children using picture books, we found some parents were really not happy with this stage. It required more effort than simply pointing at words.

I think some of us truly feel blessed to have small people to share books with.
😍
But sadly, many do not feel this particular joy. This is just so sad and a situation where everyone misses out.