RD439 - Education Commission of the States 2009 Annual Report


Executive Summary:
For more than three decades we have recognized the dark, barrier-laden path that that lies ahead for students who leave grade 3 reading below proficiency. Their chances of graduating high school, entering college, completing college or obtaining a living-wage job are extremely low. Four out of every 10 students in our country leave grade 3 as non-proficient readers. Not surprisingly, this number mirrors the national dropout rate. Many high-profile people in this country have made reading a priority for our children, but the results have changed little.

The need for America to compete globally has never been clearer. However, we will continue to fall short until we successfully address the 40% dropout rate in this country. We’re making some headway — but not enough. We recently focused on increasing the rigor of educational standards in this country and moving towards a set of common core state standards that are internationally benchmarked. We have put considerable effort on decreasing the remediation rate for students accessing postsecondary education. We have worked over the past decade on reforming our high schools to increase student results.

Yet the quality of reading instruction and the substance of what children read has changed little over the past three decades. While we’ve identified successful targeted intervention strategies at the school level, implementation has been slow or nonexistent in many schools. With all of the efforts made to improve student learning at the high school level, it is unrealistic to think we can increase the rigor in middle and high school and expect the non-proficient readers to succeed. It is time that America gets serious about literacy in this country. Until we significantly reduce the number of non-proficient readers leaving grade 3, we will fall short on all other reform efforts to increase the graduation rate, close achievement gaps and increase the number of college graduates in the U.S.

We will attain our goal of regaining global competitiveness only with simultaneous focus in three areas: 1) early literacy proficiency, 2) more effective instructional leadership coming from school principals, and 3) better identification and implementation of targeted intervention strategies.