The Scope of the Reading Problem

How many students struggle as readers? What percentage of students in the United States are behind in reading?

There was a 5 point drop in reading scores among 9-year-olds according to the nation's report card in 2022. It was the largest drop since 1990.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), first administered in 1969, is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing. It’s the only test that allows for comparisons across states and across groups of students over time.

In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments for age 9 students.

Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading compared to 2020. This is one of the largest-ever declines in reading since the long-term trend assessment was first given in the 1970s. Declines from this assessment show that students in 2022 are performing at a similar level to two decades ago. The achievement gap between white and Black students widened in 2022 because Black students experienced a sharper decline in test scores than their white counterparts. And achievement for Black children is “significantly worse than their counterparts from two years ago.

PEGGY G. CARR, Ph.D, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics

The most recent study of adult literacy in the United States was published by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) in 2003 and is a nationally representative assessment of English literacy among American adults age 16 and older. Sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NAAL is the nation’s most comprehensive measure of adult literacy. Over 19,000 adults participated in the national and state-level assessments, representing the entire population of U.S. adults who are age 16 and older.

The report concluded that 30 million adults — 14 percent of adults (over age 16) are functionally illiterate and that another 63 million adults — 29 percent of adults don’t read well enough to understand a newspaper story written at an eighth grade level. Among the over 200 million adults (age 25+) in the United States in 2010 approximately 15% have NOT earned a high school diploma or an equivalent degree (American Community Survey).

Obviously the number of struggling readers spanning in ages from early elementary grades through adults is vast. The question then becomes how is it possible that a nation that has spent more money on reading education than any other nation in recorded history has such a high percentage of its citizenry perform so dismally in reading?

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