Anonymous
Post 01/22/2026 06:22     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

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.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 22:48     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

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...

Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 22:44     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

There is that book learn to read in 100 easy lessons or something like that. Its really very simple and short, but requires ~10-15 min of 1:1 instruction each day (and sometimes much less). I think schools should figure out how to make this program happen. Maybe it's fifth graders, or a subset of them pairing with kindergarteners, maybe it's high schoolers, maybe it's only kids who are flagged by January of K, but it is very effective.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 22:26     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to get off their phones and get their kids to the libraries and read to their kids. Like, every week. Takes out books and bring them home, and read every single night. Boom, kids will start reading.


Dh and I were both gifted and I don’t think my kids are dumb, but none learned by osmosis. I read at a minimum 30 min a day to my kids. Halfway through K my oldest hadn’t learned to read so I bought phonics books and she picked it up instantly. Shocking! After finally being explicitly taught, she got it.

By 4th grade I realized my kids weren’t reading to themselves and enforced mandatory reading time at home. I also bought any book of any genre that they wanted. They all are big readers now.

I don’t understand why school isn’t working for kids anymore but it’s just not.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 22:22     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

I don’t think we can blame parents. It’s not fair to expect parents to spend an hour a day tutoring what should be taught in the 7 hours they’re in school daily.

I blame edtech. Get rid of the laptops and force reading from paper books and textbooks. It’s not the same to read on a screen.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 22:17     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

I bet they can name the 20+ genders out there though! We need to decide what matters in education.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 22:01     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to get off their phones and get their kids to the libraries and read to their kids. Like, every week. Takes out books and bring them home, and read every single night. Boom, kids will start reading.


With some kids its that simple, with others its not.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 21:47     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Lucy Calkins, balanced literacy, and whole language do not work to teach reading. Many states still allow those methods, but some states have made changes.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 21:28     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Lazy parents!!! Lazy teachers!!!
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 21:21     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Anonymous wrote:Really? What is the tool being used to measure this?


It's the number of fourth graders who are in the below basic range on the NAEP. Maybe a little dramatic to say "can't read," but can't read at the basic level expected for their age.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 21:18     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Really? What is the tool being used to measure this?
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 21:10     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

When the kids get to high school and they still can't read they try to fire the high school teachers
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 21:00     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Parents need to get off their phones and get their kids to the libraries and read to their kids. Like, every week. Takes out books and bring them home, and read every single night. Boom, kids will start reading.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 20:58     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

Sigh.

Do you always believe everything on the internet? No wonder there are so many extremist believers these days.

Tell us what other nonsense you've fallen for, OP.
Anonymous
Post 01/21/2026 20:56     Subject: 40% of 4th graders cannot read in 2026

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



What can be done?