Failing Literacy Rates: Why Kids are Struggling to Read and Write

Over the past few years, the United States has been facing yet another major domestic issue. Many kids, mainly elementary and middle school students, have been significantly lacking reading and writing skills. Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, many schools and teachers have been noticing a major decline in reading and writing skills that should have been already developed. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 30 percent of American eighth graders were at or above proficiency for reading. With growing awareness and support, schools are starting to see a resurgence in scores, but there are still issues.

First of all, to find the cause of low literacy rates we have to look for the roots of the issue. One of the main issues of low literacy rates is the fact that many schools are using outdated and ineffective teaching methods. These methods include solely lecturing for long periods of time, not engaging students, and strict disciplinary actions over classwork infractions. Over time, these teaching methods have become out of date. Although they have worked in the past, advancements in technology and many other fields have caused these methods to be outdated. For kids to learn, there needs to be reform in teaching methods and schools need to let go of long held techniques. Schools that are applying these methods are seeing drastic improvements compared to the rest of the United States. For example, schools such as Fusion Academy, Alpha Academy, and Forest School, which use methods such as one on one learning, focusing on students goals, and interacting with nature, generally perform higher on literacy tests than other schools due to the fact that students are more engaged in learning. Schools like Fusion are seeing way better results than regular schools. Fusion’s MAP scores show 33% more growth than other students nationally. These results are all pointing one way and teaching reform is going to be essential to catching up with the rest of the world.

Another major issue that slowed down the learning of many students in the United States was the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic is seen as a major reason for the decline of children's literacy rates and other skills. Primarily, the isolation from other students made coming back and having face to face interactions with people challenging and something that kids had to relearn. Covid affected literacy rates drastically with the introduction of online learning. Kids who were in lower grades such as kindergarten and first grade were not properly taught, therefore creating major repercussions in later grades. Those kids who were in kindergarten during the pandemic were in fourth grade in 2024. The test results that measure literacy rates, only 32% of fourth graders were at or above proficient reading levels. Before Covid-19, the test scores for fourth graders went down significantly from 220 to 217 and eighth grade went from 263 to 260. To put this into perspective: 2 percentage points is considered a lot and the reading tests 0 to 500 so these test scores are still under the 50th percentile.

Even though we can’t change the past, there are ways to counter the effects of the regression that Covid-19 caused in students. Ways to counter these effects include opening up widespread intensive tutoring programs for students that are behind, more investments in private and public education, and larger focus on mental health support. The change might take a long time, but there is definitely a chance for a rebirth in literacy rates.

The effect that these literacy rates have on the United States compared to the rest of the world are concerning. Even though the United States is in a reading slump, other countries are seeing a very different trend. For example, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries literacy rate average is 472. For context, OECD countries generally are used to represent first world countries. The United States scored 465. This put the United States behind countries such as the Czech Republic, Japan, and Estonia. Among the highest scoring countries was China with administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau scoring second and fourth with scores of 552 and 540. This puts China almost 90 points higher than the United States. So what is it with China that puts them so far ahead of the rest of the world?

Luckily enough, I had the privilege of interviewing a close friend of mine who moved from mainland China three years ago. In his interview, he described how in China students were solely focused on school. He stated, "The Chinese kids are much smarter than American kids because they don't have time to do unimportant things such as play video games like Americans.” He described how teachers are required to give a lot of homework while in the United States he says that there isn’t any homework in comparison to China. In addition to my friend I interviewed, I also interviewed a teacher that has taught in the United States and China. He states, “In China parents believe that a 95 on a test isn’t good. In contrast, a 95 in the United States is considered very high.” This pressure that parents put on children to perform at the highest capability possible can be viewed two different ways. On one side people might view this as unethical and a way of pressurizing kids. On the contrary this can be viewed as a way to bring out the best of kids. These major differences tell us a lot about how the United States stands compared to other countries.

So the major question is, have there been steps taken to counter these effects? A lot of schools are using regular assessments to make sure students are growing and excelling in reading and writing. Schools are using this data to keep students on track and pointing in the right direction. Another method schools are starting to apply is encouraging parents and communities to read together with their children. Methods like this foster a love for reading at a young age which is the most effective way to encourage reading. With continued efforts being made, the United States will once again be a country recognized for its widespread literacy rates.

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ABOUT DAVID

David Ramirez is a 14 year old freshman at Centner Academy. He shows a great interest in writing and looks to further excel his capabilities. He enjoys informative writing and writing for entertainment. David looks forward to sharing his writing with everyone. Outside of writing, David is a prolific musician and a race car driver.