Reading is something most high school students take for granted, but if you ask teachers around the country, they say many students lack the basic literacy skills necessary for learning.
A 10th-grade teacher, Sandi, told us nearly all of her 30 inner-city students are behind in reading by one or more grade levels and need individual and small-group instruction on basic literacy skills. Sandi has little help from her school district to support intervention, but she does her best. She modifies lessons, scours thrift stores for simpler texts, and works with students during her lunch break and after school.
“My heart breaks every day,” Sandi says. “I try to walk a tightrope between teaching the kids what they’re supposed to know for the state standards and coming back to help with really basic skills.”
Research suggests these problems start early in a child’s schooling. If students aren’t reading on level by third grade, they’re likely to fall further and further behind as they progress through school.
Why Is Third Grade So Important?
Third grade is a pivotal point in a student’s development because students are learning to read until third grade. After third grade, students are reading to learn. It’s nearly impossible to learn about state history in fourth grade or solve a word problem in eighth grade without being able to read.
Teachers in the later grades aren’t trained to teach basic reading skills, so if a student hasn’t learned to read by the end of third grade, the student is almost certain to struggle.
Studies by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that 82% of low-income students aren’t reading at grade level when they enter fourth grade, and students who don’t read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.
“Walk around my school during a day of state testing,” Sandi says. “Watch the kids look at the standardized test and, one by one, put their heads down because they can’t read it. The text is too difficult.”
Who’s Seeking Solutions?
Fortunately, a number of powerful players have realized the importance of reading on level by third grade.
The Education Trust has identified reading by third grade as one of its six critical areas worth fighting for, and even the White House is paying attention. In September, the administration unveiled My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge, a campaign to ensure all young people have access to educational opportunities and reading by third grade is one of its six priorities as well.
School districts across the country are refocusing their efforts, too. In Philadelphia, they’re placing an early literacy coach in every elementary school, and in Denver, they’re aiming to have 80% of students reading at grade level by 2020.
The Education Trust uses its Dispelling the Myth Awards program to recognize schools making a difference. Its 2014 winners range from a rural elementary school in Michigan to an urban pre-K through eighth-grade school in Atlanta. All winners boast high rates of reading proficiency, despite above-average levels of student poverty.
Hard Work Leads to Progress
There’s no secret to solving this problem. The solution lies in what we already know: Students need exposure to reading and good teaching to develop literacy skills, and teachers need targeted training and in-classroom coaching to implement best practices in reading instruction.
Sandi’s students still struggle, but she’s starting to see results, and she knows her hard work is worth it.
“I feel a sense of hope when I see a kid sneaking a novel under the desk,” she says. “If they can read, they can do everything.”
Joel Zarrow is the executive director of Children’s Literacy Initiative. CLI is a nonprofit organization that aims to help teachers transform instruction to enable children to become powerful readers, writers, and thinkers. Prior to CLI, Joel served as a senior advisor and consultant for the New Jersey Department of Education, the associate director of Partners in School Innovation, and a board member for Envision Schools, a charter management organization.