Unfortunately the number of below-level readers is increasing. What’s more, they are reading at an increasingly lower level. There are more struggling readers and they are further behind. According to the results of the latest NAEP reading assessment, there was a drop of 2 points in the average performance of both fourth and eighth graders when compared with 2022 test results.  A study of oral reading suggests  how far behind today’s students are.

 In the study, the accuracy of a nationally representative sample of 1,800 fourth-graders who had taken the NAEP tests was assessed (White et al., 2021). Students were classified as being at one of four levels according to their scores: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. This assessment provided data on word recognition that can be used to operationalize the NAEP classifications, for instance, the percentage of oral reading accuracy associated with Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced designations (Gunning, 2022). As part of the oral reading assessment, students read four passages orally. Percentage of words read accurately was calculated as was reading rate and number of words read correctly per minute. Percentage of words read accurately can be used to estimate students’ reading levels. The figure 95% is widely regarded as an indicator of instructional reading level. Thus, if fourth graders can read at least 95% of the words in typical fourth-grade texts, the students can be classified as reading on grade level. Percentages correct for Basic, Proficient, and Advanced were 96, 97, and 98 percent. From a word recognition point of view, the 96 percentage for Basic level indicates that students reading on a Basic level are, on average, preforming on grade level. Students reading on the Proficient and Advanced levels are reading above grade level.

In the study, Below Basic was divided into three groups: Low, Medium, and High Below Basic, with 11% of students in each group. Their accuracy scores were 82, 92, and 94 percent. High Below Basic students, who were just one percentage point below grade level accuracy, could be accommodated by being provided extra assistance. They should be able to handle grade level text if given additional preparation. The Medium Below Level group would likely need some additional small group instruction. Grade-level text would mostly likely be a bit too challenging for them unless they received fairly extensive preparation. They would benefit from having texts on their instructional level coupled with instruction that would boost them up to grade level. The difference between the Low Below Basic group and the Medium group was quite dramatic. On grade-level passages, the Low Below Basic group misread an average of 16 out of 100 words. They would need intensive small group instruction and possibly individual intervention and materials on their instructional level. The goal would be to boost their skills and gradually increase the challenge of the materials they read so that eventually they would be reading on or close to grade level. Overall, the results, which have been adjusted to account for the recent increase in percentage of students reading below Basic, suggest that 13% of fourth graders are reading significantly below grade level, 13% are reading somewhat below grade level, and 13% are reading slightly below grade level.

References

Gunning, T. G. (2022). Closing the literacy gap: Accelerating the progress of underperforming students. New York: Guilford Press.
National Center for Education Statistics (2025). NAEP ReportCard: Reading.https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=4
White, S., Sabatini, J., Park, B. J., Chen, J., Bernstein, J., & Li, M. (2021). Highlights of the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Study (NCES 2021–026). Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.  https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2021026

Structured Literacy

Structured Literacy is frequently recommended for students who experience difficulty learning to read. Structured Literacy is an umbrella term for an approach that includes spelling, the study of affixes and roots, sentence structure and other syntactical elements, and semantics, which includes vocabulary development and comprehension along with phonics (IDA; 2019, 2020, Spear-Swerling, 2022). Explicit, systematic instruction, ample practice, use of texts and practice activities that reinforce the skills taught, and instruction in the use of decoding strategies, progress monitoring, and instruction based on assessment are emphasized.