Today's DAR
Literacy is defined as “the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials.” To many of us, the ability to read and understand is second nature, and for 79% of U.S. citizens, this is true. Yet, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, for the other 21% – or 43 million U.S. citizens – unfortunately, it is not.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, average reading scores fell between 2017 and 2019 for both fourth- and eighth-grade students: scores were lower by one point at fourth grade and lower by three points at eighth grade. By grade 12, the average score was two points lower in comparison to 2015. The National Center for Educational Statistics breaks out the below-grade-level reading number further: 35% are white, 34% Hispanic, 23% African American and 8% other. This puts the United States well behind several other countries, including Japan, Scandinavia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom, for rates of literacy.
