Nation's Reading Report Card
(released in 2003 about the 2002 results)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released its findings on reading proficiency for fourth, eighth, and twelfth grade students nationwide. How did we fare?

Here are the major findings:

• 36 percent of fourth-graders and 25 percent of eighth-graders performed below the basic level. Roughly, 1 in 3 fourth graders and 1 in 4 eighth graders failed to demonstrate a partial mastery of reading.
  
  
• Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont were the highest-performing states at grade 4 in 2002
  
  
• A positive relationship between student-reported parental education and student reading performance was observed in 2002 at grades 8 and 12: the higher the parental education level, the higher the student's average reading score.
  
  
• Although a National Report Card has been released in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000,and 2002, the percentage of fourth graders who performed at or above the Basic level in 2002 was higher than previous year's results, but not significantly different from 1992.
  
  
• In 2002, females had higher average reading scores than males in all three grades.

1998 National Assessment Study show that for most children, reading does not come easily. Look at these findings in 1998:

• According to the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress test results, nearly 70% of 4th graders nationwide cannot read on a 4th grade level - and nearly 40% of 4th graders cannot read on even a basic level!
  
  
• Studies show that of the children who are diagnosed with reading problems in the 3rd grade, 74% continue with problems into the 9th grade (Fletcher et al, 1994). This shows the importance of learning to read by the 3rd grade! However, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), most reading problems are not even identified until the 3rd grade. By the time children with reading problems are identified, it is almost too late!
  
  
• Studies go on to show that children who fall behind at an early age (even in Kindergarten and 1st grade) fall further and further behind over time. Without intervention, reading problems do not diminish over time, but persist through the school years and into adulthood.
  
  

• Among those children, 10-15 percent drop out of high school and only 2 percent complete a four-year college degree.
  
  
• Surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records show that about half have reading difficulties.
  
  
• Of youth with a history of substance abuse, half have reading problems.