In pre-k and kindergarten I remember learning the alphabet, constantly having new vocabulary that we would sound out together as a class as well as having songs and rhymes to remember sentence structure. Reading was a huge part of my very early education. Now, so many parents and teachers are voicing their concerns about their students’ deficiency in reading. So, what changed and why are students falling behind so noticeably?

            This first came to my attention when I saw a string of stitched Tiktoks where teachers were talking about their experience with middle school students reading on a barely elementary level. The original Tiktok in the thread was by user @qbthedon. In this video, which is now pinned to the top of his profile, he explains how he teaches seventh grade and his students are still performing on a fourth grade level. He expresses frustration with the lack of concern from parents and the school alike. Students performing three grade levels below their own is only going to hold them back more and hurt their chances of success. There are many more users that add their experiences as teachers with students who seem to not even know the alphabet.  For example, another user (@teresakeyenewman) who was a music teacher noticed her students were guessing at the shapes of letters. For vocab words that were more familiar they were fine, however, if there was an unfamiliar word the letters looked like guesswork. Middle schoolers not knowing the alphabet is seriously worrying.

            Now, some shared experiences on social media is one thing but this issue can’t be that bad, right? Looking through statistics over the past years shows some interesting data. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, reading assessment scores have dropped by 5 points since 2020. This is the largest drop since 1990. Additionally, the NCES reports a 7 point drop in mathematics scores since 2020. Undoubtedly, it is important to note the COVID-19 pandemic’s role in this. Remote learning led to more difficulties as students weren’t able to get help from their teachers as easily. With this in mind, the data is still concerning.

            Diving further into the numbers, I found an article on the statistics of US literacy, “How Serious Is America’s Literacy Problem?” by Amy Rea on Library Journal. Rea explains that in the United States 21 percent of adults are illiterate or functionally illiterate. Moreover, two-thirds of fourth graders are reading below their grade level. Those numbers stay nearly the same as they move up in school. Rea also spells out how being unable to read can affect everything from a person’s health to their likelihood of committing a crime and that isn’t mentioning how illiteracy in parents can affect the child’s literacy.

            While looking further into this topic, I found a podcast focused on this. It’s called “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” by Emily Hanford from APM reports. The podcast is six episodes long and tells first hand stories of children falling behind in reading. The first episode features a mother, Corinne Adams, and her experience watching her son’s Zoom lessons during Covid. Adams noticed the instruction seemed odd. The teacher was teaching strategies to read. While she held a book to the camera for the children to see, she covered a word and started walking the children through the strategies. First they were told to look at the picture and ‘guess’ what might happen next in the story, then to use context from the previous part of the sentence. The final strategy was to sound out the word. Adams thought this was extremely odd. Why weren’t they being taught to sound out each part of the word from the beginning? She emphasizes remembering doing that in her early school years.

        The podcast goes on to show many more examples of this, parents noticing their children aren’t truly reading. They guess words, which leads to mistakes like misreading “invading” as “inviting”. These mistakes can lead to children completely misinterpreting what they are reading and can lead to habits that are very difficult to unlearn. See, these children aren’t learning through phonics, the process of learning the individual sounds of letters, the sounds letters make together and sounding out words piece by piece. Instead, schools have started to teach through what’s known as the “Whole Language Approach” which emphasizes memorization of  whole words and what they look like rather than sounding them out. While the whole language approach can have some benefits, there is a plethora of evidence showing that phonics is ideal when it comes to teaching children to read.

            Overall, the ability to read is an essential skill everyone needs if they are to live life to the fullest. Schools should be teaching phonics as fundamentals with whole-language to support that. Afterall, how can we expect the children of the future to strive if they can’t read basic sentences?

Works Cited

“NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessment Results: Reading and Mathematics.” The Nation’s Report Card, www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

Hanford, Emily. “Sold A Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went so Wrong.” Special Projects from APM Reports, features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

Buckingham, Jennifer. “Systematic Phonics Instruction Belongs in Evidence-Based Reading Programs: A Response to Bowers: The Educational and Developmental Psychologist.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 16 June 2020, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/educational-and-developmental-psychologist/article/abs/systematic-phonics-instruction-belongs-in-evidencebased-reading-programs-a-response-to-bowers/857F3AE854C1403BFCA080F7352B1D12.

Rea, Amy. “How Serious Is America’s Literacy Problem?” Library Journal, 2020, www.libraryjournal.com/story/How-Serious-Is-Americas-Literacy-Problem.

Sparks, Sarah D. “Is the Bottom Falling out for Readers Who Struggle the Most?” Education Week, Education Week, 13 July 2021, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/is-the-bottom-falling-out-for-readers-who-struggle-the-most/2021/06.