Letter to the editor: Early reading interventions better for students than illiteracy
Adults suffer grave consequences when they struggle to read. Their job prospects are bleak and their likelihood of being involved in the criminal justice system escalate. Yet even today, about 16 million Americans are functionally illiterate.
That’s what makes the Akron Beacon Journal editorial urging Ohio to weaken its third-grade reading guarantee so shortsighted (“Third Grade Reading Guarantee is failing our kids,” May 29). Enacted in 2012, the policy requires schools to retain children with reading deficiencies and give them the extra time and supports needed to become fluent.
Multiple studies indicate that students who struggle to read pay the price later in life. A report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, for example, found that nonproficient third graders are four times more likely to drop out than their peers.
Under the guarantee, Ohio schools hold back about 5% of third graders with severe reading problems. Such students are on a pathway to illiteracy, as they can only answer about one-third (or less) of questions right on state tests. Fortunately, with the guarantee in place, literacy rates moved in the right direction before the pandemic. In 2015-16, 27% of third graders scored at the lowest level on state tests. By 2018-19, that had declined to 14%.
There’s still more work to do, but Ohio is making progress in early literacy. Now is not the time to backtrack. Making sure that schools intervene early — rather than waiting until it’s too late — is the right thing to do for students.
Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Columbus
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ohio can stamp out illiteracy by holding back third graders
