The question about the quality of America’s public schools can be answered in recent, and decades old, education statistics. Out of four million 4th graders in the nation, three million cannot read proficiently. Among African American students, 3 out of 4 graduating seniors cannot read well enough to be successful in college. American students rank 29 out of 35 industrialized nations in science. If these statistics reflected the cleanliness and sanitation of restaurants in America, no one would go out to eat. But this is the standard we accept to educate our children and prepare them to be self-sufficient adults.
I recently had a reader challenge me on fourth grade reading statistics. He stated, “Fourth graders have 8 years to catch up in reading if teachers push hard enough.” My critic was optimistic, but mistaken. Reading instruction ends at 3rd grade. From 4th grade on, students read to learn. Students who aren’t reading proficiently by the end of third grade, 3 million in America, are not likely to ever catch up. In fact, of the 3 million non-readers, 75% of them will drop out of school without finishing.
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