This is where I would have invested the >$100B that was inexplicably handed to Ukraine without meaningful debate: Teaching children how to read.
These dismal reading scores signal a bona fide national emergency affecting the lives of millions of Americans. These numbers portend a bleak future for the United States. The following are excerpts from “Is Your Child Becoming a Proficient Reader in School? Statistics Would Say No.”
According to pre-pandemic 2019 Quincy Public Schools (QPS) Illinois Report Card Data compiled by Wirepoints, only 25.9% of 3rd grade students met or exceeded grade level reading standards, while reading proficiency in Black students fell to only 3.1%. Updated Report Card data for 2021 shows further declines statewide Unfortunately, this literacy tragedy is not unique to QPS, but representative of a national problem. 2022 National data compiled by the National Assessment of Education Performance, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, reveals that only 33% of all fourth graders are reading at a proficient level.
Why is this important? Research has shown that students who cannot read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school. These students are more likely to live in poverty, rely on public assistance and experience poor health outcomes. Even more concerning is that 85% of youth who interface with the juvenile court system struggle to read while 70% of incarcerated adults cannot read at the fourth grade level. This is known as the school to prison pipeline.
