Reading scores starting to improve

The Hill -  Reading scores are starting to see an increase across the board after years of stagnation following COVID-19, a new study says, a hopeful sign in the long battle to improve literacy among U.S. students. Reading scores in grades K through 8 cut the gap from pre-pandemic levels by one-third in the past year, according to data from NWEA, an education research group.

While an encouraging sign that experts think can be attributed to some new reading policies implemented at the state level, more progress is needed before students get back to pre-COVID success rates.

….Experts believe the improvements are a sign that efforts by states to implement the science of reading and add more literacy tutoring were not in vain.  Since the pandemic, around half of states have adopted laws or requirements for schools to align their literacy teaching with the science of reading, a practice that focuses on phonics, the ability of students to sound out words and understanding how letters sound together. It also has a greater emphasis on vocabulary and comprehension.

….The NWEA data showed the biggest improvements in the past year were among Black students, Hispanic students and those in high-poverty areas, aligning with the groups that saw the biggest hits to their reading scores during the pandemic… According to the NWEA data, there is still a two-thirds gap between where students are now in reading and where they were before the pandemic.