A record number of U.S. elementary and middle school students don’t know how to read.
Two-thirds of fourth and eighth graders in the public school system failed to pass the reading proficiency exam required by the National Center for Education Statistics. The last time this exam was given was 2017, and since then, students’ ability to read and comprehend literature has dropped significantly, according to results released by the Department of Education.
Among eighth graders, reading scores dropped in more than half of states across the country. And among fourth graders, reading scores declined in 17 states, bringing the nation’s reading progress down to the lowest level this decade has seen.
Only about one-third of fourth graders were able to pass the proficiency exam this year. In 2017, almost all fourth graders (72%) were considered proficient. In the eighth grade, the situation was the same: Only one-third of students passed the proficiency exam this year, compared to 2017, when 70% of students passed.
It is a “student achievement crisis,” according to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who noted that the inability to read at this young of an age has serious implications for “lifelong learning.”
Some have blamed the public education system’s inconsistent curriculum, specifically in low-income areas where schools tend to lack the necessary funding. Others have faulted the test itself, arguing standardized exams expect too much from individual students and reveal too little about their actual progress.
One way to fix this problem is to challenge children to start reading harder material earlier. This could help students develop “the reading comprehension” necessary to “deal with text complexity,” said Peter Afflerbach, a University of Maryland faculty member who studies reading and testing.
Another literacy expert at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Catherine Snow, believes the problem has more to do with the way schools teach children how to read than what they read. Engaging students in “intrinsically motivating tasks” is crucial because it “drives you back to texts to find information,” Snow told the New York Times.
This problem is a complicated one, and its solutions will be too.
