In sum, American literacy is getting worse, but it is getting worse primarily because the gap between highly skilled readers and struggling readers is growing.

…

In a 2000 meta-analysis, the National Reading Panel did find evidence that using phonics was a better way to teach reading, and it seems that the real problem with whole language learning was that it hurt the kids at the bottom the most. We withheld the most effective method from the kids who needed the most help! The averages, however, mostly remained the same. The more recent NAEP declines happened well after some schools decided to reintroduce phonics, and the decline in scores in both reading and mathematics indicates that there is something else going on.

…

What is happening here, I posit, is a general abandonment of literary culture. It is no longer expected that the well-educated continue to read for pleasure; we have Netflix and YouTube now. When I go to a party, I’m more likely to be asked by my friends what shows I’ve been watching—they’re always baffled when I tell them I haven’t watched anything in a long time. Nobody wants to talk with me about the Graham Greene novels I’ve been consuming, and most of them haven’t heard of Graham Greene.

Madison’s 2024–2025 early literacy screener results.

The District purchased a new early literacy curriculum in 2022, following a 2021 task force report.

We discussed the Capitol City’s literacy history since 1998 at a recent Rotary Club talk, including a 1998 School Board objective: “that all students complete the 3rd grade able to read at or beyond grade level.”

Superintendent Joe Gothard and two colleagues spoke at a July, 2026 Rotary Club meeting: “We should not be sitting in a place where we can say sixty percent of our students are not proficient at their grade level in reading.”