Reading Is Back in the News
ACT has issued a new report that says only about half of our nation’s ACT-tested high school students are ready for college-level reading. This seems to be a good report. It is available online at ACT’s website. It shows that African Americans and Hispanic Americans fare worst in the test. The report doesn’t mention it, but remember that those tested were most likely taught reading by the whole language method. This method most harmed students in urban schools. Now that they are being taught phonics, perhaps things will improve.
A big point in the report is that reading skills and strategies are not being taught during high school years. Students who can read complex texts are more likely to be ready for college. Reading comprehension is a big problem.
It is my contention that if problem solving is taught across the curriculum from K-12, reading comprehension will greatly increase.
ACT is doing a public service with this report, but it also illustrates the need I mention in my book for a permanent specialized SM-14 type national research center on reading. We should have had one way back in 1955 when Rudolph Flesch wrote Why Johnny Can’t Read.
The situation described in the ACT report is another example of the harm being caused by the non-teaching and non-use of the scientific method by our educational researchers and top leaders.
