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READING PROBLEMS SLOW LEARNING; LEARNING PROBLEMS SLOW READING

January 18, 2002

Supported by research showing that kids who do not learn to read early in school encounter other learning challenges more often, the Bush Administration has made reading a focal point of its "No Child Left Behind" education plan. Bush wants all kids reading by the end of third grade, a significant challenge considering the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress reports that 37 percent of the nation's fourth graders are reading below basic level. According to NAEP guidelines, that means more than a third of the students tested could not show that they understood the overall meaning of what they read on the national standardized test used to gauge such abilities.

NAEP Reading Tests Show Few Gains in 8 Years

SOURCE: National Assessment of Educational Progress

 

"The Fox and the Crow" Helps Kids Read

To boost this performance, the recently reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act authorizes the U.S. Department of Education to increase spending on reading programs 300 percent in fiscal 2002 over the prior year. The department says the money must be spent on "scientifically proven methods of reading instruction" laid out in the administration's "Reading First" plan.

Early reading mastery is integral to tackling other learning challenges, including various learning disabilities, special ed advocates say.

• Fifteen to 20 percent of all people in the United States have one or more reading-related disability, such as dyslexia.

• In school, 70 to 80 percent of students classified as having learning disabilities have trouble reading.

• In past studies, nearly three-quarters of students who were poor readers in third grade were still reading below average in ninth grade, and most still could not read well as adults.

  Source: International Dyslexia Association