THE US National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the "gold standard" for testing, released test results that show American fourth-graders and eighth-graders are still struggling, or even losing ground, in English reading.
Throughout the nation, 38 per cent of public school fourth-graders and 29 per cent of eighth-graders still read below basic levels.
According to NAEP, fourth-graders performing at the basic level should demonstrate an understanding of the overall meaning of what they read. When reading text appropriate for fourth-graders, they should be able to make relatively obvious connections between the text and their own experiences and extend the ideas in the text by making simple inferences. Eighth-graders performing at the basic level should demonstrate a literal understanding of what they read and be able to make some interpretations. When reading text appropriate to eighth graders, they should be able to identify specific aspects of the text that reflect overall meaning, relate interpretations and connections among ideas in the text to personal experience, and draw conclusions based on the text.
Under the 2002 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, national and state report cards are required every two years as an indicator of whether students are learning basic skills.
Commenting on the NAEP results, learning experts in the US say it's inherently more difficult to improve reading skills than to make gains in other subjects such as mathematics. Math skills can be taught in the classroom while reading comprehension often requires support at home.
"If the home is not reinforcing reading, it is much more difficult to learn it in school," says Jack Jennings, who works at the US Centre on Education Policy. "Reading scores don't just measure schools. They're also a reflection of the value societies or families put on reading."
Another factor influencing reading scores is the surge in the number of immigrants. California identifies one-third of fourth-graders and 22 per cent of eighth-graders as English-language learners.
"There's some evidence that having a more explicit, structured curriculum in the early grades generates better reading skills," says Catherine Snow, an expert on English reading at Harvard University's School of Education. "But to some extent, the high-anxiety focus on reading scores may have narrowed student access to knowledge about the world that may also have improved their reading outcome."
