Why Can’t Our Children Read?

It is reported that there have been declines in reading achievement since 2019 and it continues to decline. Why is this happening after teachers have worked so hard to try to improve reading scores?

First, let’s understand that reading is based on early language development. Evidence has shown that COVID-19 brought changes that affected early language development. These are the children in the early grades that we are testing nationwide. Of course, their reading scores will be low.

Secondly, children from 3 through 6 years of age, who needed additional help to learn to read during the Pandemic did not receive it, and if they did, it was over Zoom or behind masks. These children were already having difficulty recognizing letters, putting sounds to these letters, and writing their names. Many of them are now in third through middle school and they’re still struggling because many still do not have foundational reading skills. Of course, their reading scores will be low.

Thirdly, these children spend much of their time on screen time, perhaps as a result of Covid, and school is hard for them. It’s worse for the ones that would have struggled without Covid. These children did not have the normal experiences children had before the Pandemic.  Of course, their scores will be low.

What do we do at this point?

Teachers who are working with children who were severely affected developmentally and academically during Covid, from Pre-k through High School, need to have at least one course in foundational reading skills so that they can recognize and help the students in their class who need additional reading support.

Schools need to have more reading specialists available to work with struggling readers from PreK through high school. Teacher aides and assistants, even though they are needed in specific situations, are not the answer for struggling readers. They need to work with professional reading and literacy specialists to help these struggling readers make up for the years they lost during Covid.

Struggling readers need small group instruction besides a structured literacy program to keep them focused and reduce their anxiety. The supplementary program needs to follow the Orton-Gillingham approach, and must engage them. Purposeful programs that include hands-on game-based learning has been shown to raise reading levels with struggling readers. These programs reduce anxiety and increase focus.er and over again. Gamifying activities where the struggling reader is learning through play is the key. Children want to play. If the play is reading instruction in game form, with the teacher or other students, not on a screen, children will be practicing without knowing it. In addition, attendance will improve.

Teachers need to examine the year-end reading test determine why a student is struggling. It needs to be determined if the reason for a low score in reading is due to poor vocabulary, poor decoding, focusing issues, working too slowly to finish the exam, or all of the above. Only then will the teacher know how to help fix the problem.

Dr. Linda Silbert