Thanks to Susan Godsland of www.dyslexics.org.uk for flagging up this comprehensive article by Kerry Hempenstall Ph.D on how the three-cueing (searchlight) reading system has become so a prevalent in schools and teacher training to this day, despite the fact that it is not evidence based. In fact, it is ideologically based and can do irreparable damage to children who have not been taught how to decode.
http://www.adihome.org/adi-blog/entry/the-three-cueing-system-in-reading-will-it-ever-go-away