Language Magazine – Gene Kerns
According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading?grade=4), approximately a third of students across grade levels demonstrated reading proficiency. The precise figures were 35% in fourth grade, 34% in eighth grade, and 37% in twelfth grade, reflecting a decrease in the fourth and eighth grades since 2017, following decades of flatlining. These figures make it tempting to slide into doom and gloom about literacy and education in America.