In podcast, experts discuss why learning to love to read again may be key to reversing trend…
This month, average reading scores for high school seniors — released by the Nation’s Report Card — fell to their lowest level since 1992. It was the first time that 12th graders had taken the test since the COVID pandemic, and the results showed a widening gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving students.
While it may be tempting to chalk up the decline in reading skills to COVID learning loss, the scores continue a slide that predates the pandemic, according to Martin West, academic dean and a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. “American students’ literacy skills peaked in roughly the middle of the last decade and have fallen significantly since that time,” he said.
In this episode of “Harvard Thinking,” host Samantha Laine Perfas, along with West and other guests, discuss what might be driving the decline and possible strategies for reversing it. West brought up one theory, sparked by a recent report that showed a dwindling number of teens are reading for pleasure.
“What could be driving that trend?” he asked. “I don’t think we have smoking gun evidence that the rise of screen-based childhood is a direct contributor to the literacy trends that we’re seeing. But I’m willing to put it very high on my list of potential suspects.”
Phil Capin, an assistant professor and a reading researcher at HGSE, cautioned against oversimplified diagnoses: “I think there’s something seductive about being able to point to one solution to this large problem.”
On the solutions side, Pamela Mason, the co-chair of the Teaching and Teacher Leadership Program at HGSE, pointed to Mississippi as a state that has lifted scores through a combination of strategies.
With literacy levels dropping among adults too, Mason issued a challenge to teachers and parents: “We are telling our students reading is important. You need to be literate. But when do we actually model that?”
