Texas ranks 37th in fourth grade reading. It's time for bold action on literacy

Yahoo

31-03-2025

The latest Nation's Report Card results paint a stark picture of literacy in Texas. Our average reading scores now rank 37th in the nation for fourth-graders and 44th for eighth-graders, both downgrades from the previous rankings in 2022. We are losing ground compared to other states that have taken bold, comprehensive action.
As former principal of N.W. Harllee Early Childhood Center in the Dallas Independent School District, I saw firsthand how 3- and 4-year-olds attained early literacy skills such as recognizing letters, decoding words and even learning how to hold a book — foundational skills for future success that they might not have developed before entering our doors.
While I knew how my campus was performing and the district had insight into early grade performance, there is a lack of transparency at the state level. Texas requires dyslexia screening for kindergarteners and first-graders, but this is often the only formal visibility we have into the student's literacy development. We lack reliable data for nearly 80,000 first- and second-graders in the 2023-24 school year.
Let's imagine the experience of one of those students. At the end of pre-K, they are assessed as 'kindergarten ready.' In first and second grade, we don't track their literacy skills. If by third grade the student 'does not meet" state reading standards, we don't know which skills to target or how long they have struggled.
This helps explain how less than half of Texas students are reading at grade level proficiency in third grade. Even more worrisome, only one out of every five students who did not meet grade level reading expectations in 2019 caught up by sixth grade. Successful learning acceleration is even less likely if they are experiencing economic disadvantage. High-impact tutoring and other evidence-based methods show promise for assisting struggling students, but we must address the root cause by providing interventions earlier.
Data collection alone, however, isn't enough. Teachers must have the assessment literacy to act with confidence upon the insights that screeners provide. Otherwise, we risk ending up data rich yet information poor.
Unfortunately, the number of uncertified and novice teachers in early elementary grades is on the rise across the state, resulting in a significant underdiagnosis of dyslexia, according to new research out of Texas Tech. Qualified teachers are trained to recognize early signs, administer screening instruments, and understand the importance of accurate and timely diagnoses. School districts must provide this training to our newest teachers as well — and will need increased support from the state to do so.
Bolstering our progress monitoring should be paired with increased parental notification. Parents deserve information that allows them to make decisions quickly, well ahead of that critical third-grade milestone.
In Texas, only some universal reading screeners are used, parents are not being notified and evidence-based interventions are not triggered. In contrast, peer states such as Louisiana and Mississippi are implementing these and have seen significant gains in student achievement in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores.
Texas lawmakers have recognized the urgent need for this additional transparency and support. House Bill 123 and SB 2252 provide targeted funding for evidence-based literacy interventions, informed by consistent literacy and numeracy screeners implemented in early grades, where we currently lack statewide visibility.
Fully implementing universal reading screeners along with best practices such as transparent data reporting and robust parental notification is essential to addressing the lack of visibility we have into how students are progressing. This policy is popular: More than 90% of Texas voters support 'additional evidence-based support to students struggling to read,' and even more support "parents having more visibility into students' academic growth and foundational skills development between kindergarten and third grade," according to polling from Ragnar Research Partners.
Both teachers and parents need to know where students stand at every step of their journey. This way, we can eliminate third grade surprises and give every Texas student the support needed to develop strong literacy skills, skills that are essential for continuing their education and finding success beyond.
Amber Shields is the managing director of early learning at The Commit Partnership, a Texas nonprofit working to create systemic change in the education system in order to improve economic opportunity.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas needs bold action to reverse falling literacy rates | Opinion