What Bay State teachers should do about our high school reading problem

There has been a long, slow decline in the reading level of American high school graduates. Our kids are not reading much at the secondary level, and what they do read may not develop college-level reading and vocabulary skills. Perhaps Bay State English teachers should consider research evidence as well as their own personal experience.

A recent decline in reading level was suggested by the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 8 reading test. Is the decline related to changes in the school curriculum? Yes, according to Tom Loveless at the Brookings Institution. He analyzed both the plateau in grade 4 NAEP reading and the decline in grade 8 NAEP reading by examining teacher-reported changes in the content of the English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in the past six years.