Our kids are struggling to read

OPINION:

After this year’s release of national test scores from the Nation’s Report Card, it’s clear that our country still needs a strong literacy policy.

Reading scores have hit their lowest point in decades, with just 29% of eighth-graders and 30% of fourth-graders scoring at the proficient level. Alarmingly, some naysayers look at this data and have the audacity to claim, “There is no reading crisis.”

If the word “crisis” sounds scary, it should. Low literacy rates shouldn’t be an ongoing issue we’re comfortable with. This crisis is nothing new. It’s not the result of expectations that are too high or pandemic learning loss. In fact, the data clearly shows that reading scores began to decline after 2015, and the only reason we can spot the trend line and work to reverse it is because we have a national assessment that gives us a window into student performance.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the only tool that allows us to compare how students are doing in reading and math nationally and across all states and where they may be falling behind. The standards set by NAEP are rigorous and trusted, and we need that strong baseline in place to know what’s going well and what we need to improve.

Sadly, too many states are lowering their expectations on their state tests to inflate student outcomes. This leads to what is known as an “honesty gap,” or the difference between what a state reports as the percentage of students scoring “proficient” on a state assessment versus how they perform on NAEP. The bigger the gap, the less honest states are being with families about how kids are doing.

NAEP has four levels defining student achievement: advanced, proficient, basic and below basic. Achievement levels are an accurate barometer for where a student should be. Most education experts define “NAEP proficient” as the expectation students should meet. However, the actual definition of “proficient” is not asking for as much as critics would have you believe.

“NAEP proficient” means a solid academic performance and competency over challenging subject matter, as well as the ability to apply this knowledge to real-world situations. In fourth-grade reading, this means a student can describe the impact of a character’s actions or explain how characters influence one another — otherwise known as reading a story and being able to understand what happened in it. That’s not a high bar, yet only 3 out of 10 fourth-graders in America can do this.

Basic, the second-lowest score on the NAEP test, translates to partial mastery of grade-level fundamental skills. In other words, fourth-grade students can likely sequence or categorize events from a literary text, locate information in a passage and understand the words they are reading on a basic level but struggle with understanding the bigger picture of what they are reading.

Many state test expectations are unfortunately more closely aligned with NAEP’s basic level. Critics incorrectly point to this as evidence that NAEP proficient is too high an expectation, but it’s hard to believe any parent would want their kid to earn a passing grade if they are unable to explain what they just read.

Lowering expectations is dangerous, especially when done in the name of equity. Critics use it as a scapegoat to explain away lower test scores and “level the playing field” for different demographic groups. Instead of helping students who need more support, we move the goalposts and tell them they’re doing just fine.

In the long term, this can lead to worse educational outcomes and an overall lower quality of life. We know from experience that when a state places a high priority on student outcomes, the students who need help get help and make academic improvements.

Assessments alone don’t drive better student outcomes, but the information we get from assessments motivates state and local leaders to make changes that do. It’s one piece of a much larger picture.

We have significant progress to make in improving educational outcomes for all students. However, the good news is that effective, evidence-based policy solutions already exist for states ready to act. Sticking our heads in the sand and calling rigorous expectations “too hard” will not help our students succeed.

Every student deserves a high-quality education that prepares them for future success, and we must have consistent, high expectations that enable us to measure progress to achieve that goal. Don’t sell our kids short.

• Christy Hovanetz, Ph.D., is senior policy fellow at ExcelinEd.