We live in the United States of America ( one of the richest countries in the world), why does it seem that our kids are struggling more and more with reading scores?

Answer 1

lack of competition

teacher lobbies opposing school choice for parents

in economics terms it's called monopolistic "X-inefficiency" plus the usual wasteful corrupt inefficiencies

department of education's focus on PC, wokeness, ideologies, politics, while ignoring basic education, the 3 R's Reading Writing & Arithmetic. school boards more interested in tampons in boys restrooms (Minnesota) or having transsexuals in girls restrooms.

just throwing money at the problem without accountability, and siphoning off funding to teachers' and administrators' salaries&bonuses and building construction, instead of for students' education

hiring child molester teachers, protected by teacher's unions

lack of ethics. cheating widespread, no Bible reading or prayer and no alternative secular substitute for ethical training. why study when you can cheat your way through school, with no guilt feelings, no moral compass, no ethical values, religious or otherwise. the cold amoral/immoral teachers replace your moral parents' influence

Answer 2

📚 Shocking Reading Stats Every Parent Should Know

1. In 2024, 40% of 4th graders and 33% of 8th graders scored “below basic” in reading (NAEP – The Nation’s Report Card).
2. “Below basic” means students lack key skills like:
3. Understanding simple text
4. Finding the main idea
5. Using context to understand words
6. That’s nearly 1 in 2 fourth graders struggling with foundational reading — a skill critical for success in all subjects.

✅ What Parents Can Do

1. Read aloud daily, even with older children ( aim for 20 to 30 minutes)
2. Ask questions about what they read (Why? What next?)
3. Get help early — ask about support at school or consider a tutor
4. Support science-based reading instruction in schools

If your child is struggling with reading, phonics and comprehension one of the best thing you can do is get them help now. Let's talk about some options.

You came to the right place! Wyzant has professionals trained with the latest research based techniques to catch up your child. I'm Michele Landskron Wolber . Let me help your child learn phonetic awareness, phonics, and important reading skills. I have just finished over 100 hours of Science of Reading and Writing Training and Have a Literacy Endorsement (pending state approval ) . With 30 years of teaching and tutoring experience and the proper training all children can learn to read! Let's talk.

Answer 3

I highly recommend Emily Hanford's reporting on the state of reading education in the US. English has a relatively "opaque" orthography - there isn't a one-to-one correspondence between sounds in the language and letters use to represent that sound - so teaching people how to read is a little more complicated than, say, in Finnish, which has a more "transparent" orthography - a more one-to-one correspondence between the sounds of the language and the letters used to represent them. Then, educators have been trained in discredited programs and methods, despite years of solid, settled science about how to best teach how to read English.

"In 2017, Emily Hanford began investigating how children are taught to read. In a series of ongoing reports, collected here, she helped teachers, parents and policymakers recognize widespread flaws in instruction and helped spark a movement to bring the science of reading to schools. She and reporter Christopher Peak have a new podcast about how reading instruction went so wrong."

https://features.apmreports.org/reading/