40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current 6th-9th graders were all taught to read and write using Lucy Calkins. That program has huge issues and it's negative effects will last a very long time.

Current 5th-6th graders also missed key years of education when schools were closed for COVID and teaching was only virtual. Current 5th graders (so the 4th grade scores from last year) had virtual kindergarten. I'm completely unsurprised that they have weaker reading skills.

Current 4th graders had many kids who missed preschool entirely because schools were closed, plus kindergarten was masked and there were still lots of COVID interruptions. I'd be unsurprised if there are still issues.

Schools now are explicitly teaching phonics and that's a good thing, but we have a large cohort of kids going through the system right now who have major gaps.

+1, although I think the scores the video is going off are from current sixth graders (4th grade NWEP scores from the spring of '23-'24), but that group got even more virtual school so the effect is stronger. I think it'll take another cycle, at least, to tell how much of this is COVID. Hopefully that's it and it's only one group of students we failed quite so miserably.

Literacy scores started dropping well before Covid.

Before COVID were the Lucy Calkins years. That was terrible reading instruction that has been proven to be ineffective and harmful. Then there was COVID with big instruction gaps. Now we have phonics instruction in schools, but the kids with gaps from LC and COVID or both are still moving
through the system.

Thankfully phonics are back more widely in use, but there’s still the problem of too many schools having kids do most of their reading on screens with bite-sized snippets instead of actual books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current 6th-9th graders were all taught to read and write using Lucy Calkins. That program has huge issues and it's negative effects will last a very long time.

Current 5th-6th graders also missed key years of education when schools were closed for COVID and teaching was only virtual. Current 5th graders (so the 4th grade scores from last year) had virtual kindergarten. I'm completely unsurprised that they have weaker reading skills.

Current 4th graders had many kids who missed preschool entirely because schools were closed, plus kindergarten was masked and there were still lots of COVID interruptions. I'd be unsurprised if there are still issues.

Schools now are explicitly teaching phonics and that's a good thing, but we have a large cohort of kids going through the system right now who have major gaps.

+1, although I think the scores the video is going off are from current sixth graders (4th grade NWEP scores from the spring of '23-'24), but that group got even more virtual school so the effect is stronger. I think it'll take another cycle, at least, to tell how much of this is COVID. Hopefully that's it and it's only one group of students we failed quite so miserably.

Literacy scores started dropping well before Covid.

Before COVID were the Lucy Calkins years. That was terrible reading instruction that has been proven to be ineffective and harmful. Then there was COVID with big instruction gaps. Now we have phonics instruction in schools, but the kids with gaps from LC and COVID or both are still moving
through the system.

Thankfully phonics are back more widely in use, but there’s still the problem of too many schools having kids do most of their reading on screens with bite-sized snippets instead of actual books.

Is it true that the SAT has moved from passage work to sentence work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "Mississippi Miracle" was partly achieved by embracing phonics education. 15 to 20% of children have some form of dyslexia. Phonics works for them, and it also works well for non-dyslexia kids.

Phonics takes care of the first part of reading- decoding. Once kids can decode, their prior knowledge of the topic they are reading about determines their understanding. Kids in poverty tend not to do well on standardized reading tests due to their limited vocabulary and experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "Mississippi Miracle" was partly achieved by embracing phonics education. 15 to 20% of children have some form of dyslexia. Phonics works for them, and it also works well for non-dyslexia kids.

Phonics takes care of the first part of reading- decoding. Once kids can decode, their prior knowledge of the topic they are reading about determines their understanding. Kids in poverty tend not to do well on standardized reading tests due to their limited vocabulary and experiences.

Many schools have moved to a knowledge based curriculum for reading comprehension. Our schools use one called CKLA, but there are others. This does not replace exposure to language outside of schools, but is supposed to support better reading comprehension. The program has only been in place for about 3 years in our schools, so I don't think we have good data yet to know how well it's working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t truly sad and it seems to be getting worse:

What can be done?

Do you have any functioning brain cells op?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. It's interesting the number of posters on this thread, some of whom claim to be gifted, who just implicitly believe the OP and her YouTube video.

Anytime you see a shocking title on a video, you've got to assume the truth is more nuanced and there's more to the story. Internet Literacy 101.

It's not just decoding that's important, it's critical thinking. Something that a lot of adults apparently haven't quite mastered yet...

I believe you are an AI bot, PP. - possibly a foreign based AI bot. This is your second dismissive reply here, which has no substance, but only a general criticism of the entirety of YouTube.

You failed to acknowledge or address the reliability and reliance on the longstanding statistical analysis from the compiled NEAP (referenced several times in the video, which I suspect you did not watch prior to your dismissal).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assessment_of_Educational_Progress#Long-term_trend


Please go away. And don’t come back. Your attitude is a large part of the problem.

NP. I am neither foreign nor a bot, but also am skeptical of OP's youtube clickbait post. Cite an actual study that shows us that 40% of 4th graders can not read that defines what you mean by "can not read" (does that mean can not read according to state level standards of proficiency for a particular grade? or that a 4th grader literally can not read the word "cat" or "rat."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. It's interesting the number of posters on this thread, some of whom claim to be gifted, who just implicitly believe the OP and her YouTube video.

Anytime you see a shocking title on a video, you've got to assume the truth is more nuanced and there's more to the story. Internet Literacy 101.

It's not just decoding that's important, it's critical thinking. Something that a lot of adults apparently haven't quite mastered yet...

I believe you are an AI bot, PP. - possibly a foreign based AI bot. This is your second dismissive reply here, which has no substance, but only a general criticism of the entirety of YouTube.

You failed to acknowledge or address the reliability and reliance on the longstanding statistical analysis from the compiled NEAP (referenced several times in the video, which I suspect you did not watch prior to your dismissal).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assessment_of_Educational_Progress#Long-term_trend


Please go away. And don’t come back. Your attitude is a large part of the problem.

NP. I am neither foreign nor a bot, but also am skeptical of OP's youtube clickbait post. Cite an actual study that shows us that 40% of 4th graders can not read that defines what you mean by "can not read" (does that mean can not read according to state level standards of proficiency for a particular grade? or that a 4th grader literally can not read the word "cat" or "rat."

These questions are answered in the video. You don't even have to watch all 14 minutes, because what you're talking about is answered by the third minute. The data being used is also mentioned several times in this thread, including in the comment to which you responded. You're "skeptical" of a claim you seem to have made zero effort to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm. It's interesting the number of posters on this thread, some of whom claim to be gifted, who just implicitly believe the OP and her YouTube video.

Anytime you see a shocking title on a video, you've got to assume the truth is more nuanced and there's more to the story. Internet Literacy 101.

It's not just decoding that's important, it's critical thinking. Something that a lot of adults apparently haven't quite mastered yet...

I believe you are an AI bot, PP. - possibly a foreign based AI bot. This is your second dismissive reply here, which has no substance, but only a general criticism of the entirety of YouTube.

You failed to acknowledge or address the reliability and reliance on the longstanding statistical analysis from the compiled NEAP (referenced several times in the video, which I suspect you did not watch prior to your dismissal).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assessment_of_Educational_Progress#Long-term_trend


Please go away. And don’t come back. Your attitude is a large part of the problem.

NP. I am neither foreign nor a bot, but also am skeptical of OP's youtube clickbait post. Cite an actual study that shows us that 40% of 4th graders can not read that defines what you mean by "can not read" (does that mean can not read according to state level standards of proficiency for a particular grade? or that a 4th grader literally can not read the word "cat" or "rat."

These questions are answered in the video. You don't even have to watch all 14 minutes, because what you're talking about is answered by the third minute. The data being used is also mentioned several times in this thread, including in the comment to which you responded. You're "skeptical" of a claim you seem to have made zero effort to understand.

Since you enjoy watching Youtube (and I don't, because it contains all sorts of garbage), feel free to link to the legitimate sources cited in the video. If they're legitimate research studies, I would be happy to read them and better understand the accuracy of your claim that "40% of 4th graders can't read"

[Anonymous]

It is a simple search.

Fact check it for yourself (I did):

“In 2024, around 40 percent of fourth graders were reported to be below the NAEP Basic level in reading, which indicates they likely cannot recognize basic elements of a story. Additionally, more than two-thirds of fourth graders, approximately 69 percent, were reading below proficiency levels.
nagb.gov

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a simple search.

Fact check it for yourself (I did):

“In 2024, around 40 percent of fourth graders were reported to be below the NAEP Basic level in reading, which indicates they likely cannot recognize basic elements of a story. Additionally, more than two-thirds of fourth graders, approximately 69 percent, were reading below proficiency levels.
nagb.gov

Link? With actual data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a simple search.

Fact check it for yourself (I did):

“In 2024, around 40 percent of fourth graders were reported to be below the NAEP Basic level in reading, which indicates they likely cannot recognize basic elements of a story. Additionally, more than two-thirds of fourth graders, approximately 69 percent, were reading below proficiency levels.
nagb.gov

Link? With actual data?

It’s in the video

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People should look at what Mississippi has done. Yes, Mississippi. They went from having the worst literacy rates in the country for 4th graders to among the nation's highest scores. Among the things they do is the mandatory retention of 3rd graders who do not pass the reading tests. They raised expectations, gave teachers resources and support, and followed through. Their results have been outstanding. So it's not hopeless out there.

The problem really is horrible school boards and ever diminishing expectations. Try holding back a 3rd grader in the DC area because they can't read at grade level. It never happens. The norm in this area is to pass everyone all the way through high school regardless of their proficiency in reading or math. Which is why we have so many unprepared students graduating from DC area schools. It's sad.

It's far from just DC area schools. Mississippi is the exception. I'd say more than 95% of school districts make it virtually impossible to retain a student at any grade for any reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a simple search.

Fact check it for yourself (I did):

“In 2024, around 40 percent of fourth graders were reported to be below the NAEP Basic level in reading, which indicates they likely cannot recognize basic elements of a story. Additionally, more than two-thirds of fourth graders, approximately 69 percent, were reading below proficiency levels.
nagb.gov

Link? With actual data?

i

OP must have her own issues with reading if she keeps trying to drive traffic to a video rather than citing legit sources.

It’s in the video

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a simple search.

Fact check it for yourself (I did):

“In 2024, around 40 percent of fourth graders were reported to be below the NAEP Basic level in reading, which indicates they likely cannot recognize basic elements of a story. Additionally, more than two-thirds of fourth graders, approximately 69 percent, were reading below proficiency levels.
nagb.gov

Link? With actual data?

i

OP must have her own issues with reading if she keeps trying to drive traffic to a video rather than citing legit sources.

It’s in the video

Op-no one wants to click on your creepy video. Cite sources like an adult (or at least a functional high school student.)

[Anonymous]

The irony of an OP who complains 4th graders can’t read who keeps insisting that people “watch the video.”