The latest National Report Card continues to show a steady decline in reading, with scores reaching an all-time low.
The National Report Card is the largest continuing assessment that measures what America’s students know across a variety of subjects. Conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, this resource helps leaders and teachers make informed decisions about how to improve the educational system in our country.
The most recent report, released on Jan. 29, showed that reading scores have continued to drop across the nation.
Over two-thirds of students nationwide are reading below the NAEP Proficient level at both the fourth and eighth grades, according to the report. The proficient level in reading meaning that the student is able to consistently understand written text and interpret its meaning.
A third of eighth graders failed to hit even the NAEP basic benchmark, which is the lowest achievement level. This reflects the largest percentage ever to do so since the assessment was implemented in 1969.
The Utah State Board of Education has issued a statement in response to the latest scores.
“We are committed to implementing evidence-based programs that address reading challenges early," said Darin Nielsen, deputy superintendent of student learning. "... Providing intensive support where it’s needed most and tracking progress to make sure every student has the opportunity to improve and succeed."
Tanner Russon is a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Centennial Middle School in Provo, Utah. A growing lack of interest in reading is one of the biggest reasons why the scores are going down, he said.
“There are fewer and fewer students who read. They would much rather watch TikTok and YouTube than to read a book,” Russon said.
The assessment isn’t a true representation of what they are seeing, because they still have students that are reading at incredibly advanced levels, he added. However, they also have a large group of students that are still reading at early elementary levels.
“The divide between the two groups of students is increasing, and that is what is causing a lot of challenges and issues,” he added.
To help combat these issues, the school has increased the amount of time that students spend in their language arts classes. The school is on a block schedule, but language arts classes are held every day for every student.
Russon is also working to make reading more interesting and enjoyable for his students. He and another teacher read "Harry Potter" with their class during the first term.
“We put them in the book by giving them Hogwarts acceptance letters, going through a sorting hat ceremony, and culminating in a narrative writing assessment where they wrote a fictional narrative about them in Hogwarts,” he said.
During the second term they read "A Christmas Carol." They also acted it out, and Russon had them engage actively with the text by highlighting passages and taking notes on different themes.
“I think the results speak for themselves," Russon said. "Last year, both seventh and eighth grades improved in their reading scores during the RISE test and we were above average in the state of Utah.”
Other schools have reached out to Centennial Middle School to ask what the seventh-grade team was doing to foster such success.
Mike Bowden is an eighth-grade teacher at Canyon View Junior High in Orem. He is currently getting his doctorate in education with a focus on literature at Utah State University. He has taught for 20 years, and hasn’t noticed a steady decline in his students.
“I honestly can say that reading scores, while they go up and down year to year, have stayed pretty close to the same overall,” Bowden said. “The NAEP has consistently shown a decline in reading. I am currently looking at what it actually measures, and what the scores actually mean.”