Dive Brief:
- According to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education, nearly half of minority students and students from low-income communities failed to meet basic reading scores on national test data.
- The report looked at scores of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is given to a selection of students at different grade levels and is the only test given in all 50 states.
- Half of African-American students in fifth grade score below NAEP’s basic level; 47% of Latino students and low-income students also don’t meet the bar.
Dive Insight:
States and districts have placed increased emphasis on early childhood programs as a way to boost early literacy. But Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, says the NAEP scores his organization studied suggest that those efforts won’t be enough to turn the tide.
“Teaching students to read when they are young is an important booster shot, but not a lifelong inoculation, against further reading problems,” Wise said. “Instead, students need continued reading and writing support throughout their educational career—especially as they encounter more challenging reading material in middle and high school. Unfortunately, few states provide this continued support, and as a result, the majority of today’s students leave high school without the reading and writing skills necessary for success in an information-age economy.”
The report, titled "The Next Chapter: Supporting Literacy Within ESEA," advocates for a proposed law that would boost literacy efforts. Key provisions from that law were incorporated in the bipartisan rewrite of No Child Left Behind, which is currently in limbo with Congress on break.