Adolescent Literacy is a National Emergency - Now What?

Two weeks ago, the Nation’s Report Card released its most recent results. Unfortunately, the news has been far from reassuring; the 2024 assessment demonstrated that the “average reading score for the nation at grade 8 was 2 points lower than 2022 and 5 points lower compared to 2019.” In other words, the number of students who are proficient in reading continues to decline, resulting in what can be described in no other terms than a national emergency. Yet, there are still too many political and even school district leaders who deny the need for specialized support in adolescent literacy, and who seem to think that growth in reading is only possible in the elementary years. Contrary to what is unfortunately widespread ignorance about the learning capacity of students in grades 6-12, every learner can make improvements in proficiency; however, targeted action is necessary to ensure positive progress. 

“They Can’t Read”

Educators are careful to avoid deficit mindset thinking, which places students into fixed categories of “can” and “cannot.” However, we must also face the reality of what is happening with children while still using what is known as “the power of yet” to believe that growth can occur with the right support. When teachers observe that students cannot read, they are not expressing a lack of faith that the current state of proficiency will always be the case; they are simply stating a fact about how their students are performing, right now. At present, with a confluence of circumstances coming together at once, more students in middle and high school are struggling to read than ever before.

Pandemic Disruption

In 2020, students who transitioned to virtual learning for several months (or more) experienced at least some disruption to their education. Older students who had several years of schooling under their belts rebounded more quickly in what became known as pandemic “recovery.” However, one group of students has struggled to gain ground in the years since. Specifically, those who were younger, particularly students who were in grades K-2 (and who are now in grades 5-7) are still lagging in their literacy acquisition, and they are not yet making up the same ground as their older peers. 

While all learning loss is problematic, the foundational skills that are taught in the very early primary grades hold particular value in relation to reading success. On their own or even with the guidance of most parents, most students will struggle with phonemic awareness, word recognition and reading fluency. Skillful teachers are needed for this task, which is why so many students who were not in physical school buildings experienced lapses in these key areas of literacy during the pandemic. Once they returned to classrooms, this same group of students had aged out of foundational skill building, and the instruction they received was targeted more toward fluent readers. It should be noted that nobody is to blame for this occurrence; reading instruction is a complicated endeavor, and everyone was under pressure to help students “recover” as quickly as possible by holding their classes to grade-level standards, which is a worthy endeavor. However, concurrently, many students who needed reading interventions did not always receive the necessary support.

Decoding and Comprehension

When students experience the lags described above, they need targeted reading interventions. The first step in helping any struggling reader is to correctly diagnose the issue. For some students, they will still be working on what is known as decoding, which involves sounding out the parts of words and putting the pieces together to form a cohesive whole. Students who are still in this phase must also gain proficiency with forming words into sentences and then demonstrate their ability to read out loud with fluency, which is measured both in terms of accuracy and speed.

Until students can properly decode, they will struggle to comprehend the meaning of any text in front of them, which is why so many teachers observe that students cannot read. No matter how good intentions are, it is not realistic to expect students to sit in so many text-heavy middle and high school classes (think of science, social studies and English alone) and be successful if they have foundational lapses. Therefore, their needs must be accurately assessed, diagnosed and treated. If students are still working to decode, they should not be placed in a reading intervention that focuses on comprehension. If their decoding skills are proficient, then a reading intervention focused on comprehension is the next step.

Literary and Informational Text

Once we have ensured that all students can decode and comprehend text, struggles still manifest that are common to kids in their secondary years. In elementary school, students are more likely to encounter literary texts, usually in the form of fiction. Once they enter middle school, the emphasis on informational text increases as kids encounter a wider array of complex texts. As part of necessary literacy support, classroom teachers should be aware that many students have not had much practice with non-fiction and therefore need some additional scaffolding when encountering these types of texts. In particular, informational texts often contain technical jargon or unfamiliar vocabulary. It therefore helps to place specific emphasis on words that will help to “unlock” the overall meaning of complex texts.

Kids might seem to shun adult help more and more as they age, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t need our support. The assumption that reading skills can only be managed in the elementary years is unacceptable and ignorant. As they age, we have a limited number of years to help students grow in their capacity to be strong readers, writers and thinkers. Instead of turning a blind eye to these significant needs, we all need to step in and do everything we can to help while there's still time.  

Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer

Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has taught and led for more than 20 years. She is the author of several education books with W.W. Norton and ASCD. She is also a National Board-Certified Teacher with additional certification in administration and supervision. She can be reached at www.miriamplotinsky.com or via Twitter: @MirPloMCPS