where are the bookworms?
For Gen Alpha, Learning To Read Is Becoming A Privilege
Literacy rates are tumbling as kids' attention spans dwindle. Families are scraping together funds to move schools or get tutors, driving a societal divide.
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The Lede
Increasingly, younger kids were not nailing basic reading skills before third grade — a crucial window. Those who miss it have a tough road ahead in middle and high school. Even adept readers in their tweens and teens have become afraid of complex or extended reading tasks and more comfortable with short texts or bite-size summaries. This is not unusual. Across the US, kids are struggling to read.
Key Details
- Last year, reading performance for fourth graders hit its lowest level since 2005, and teachers expect that number to keep tumbling.
- The Senate education committee is pushing school districts to retrain teachers in a trendy new teaching style called "the science of reading," which has greatly improved literacy in some areas.
- There has never been a golden age for reading scores in America. Still, this new low raised alarm among lawmakers who were concerned about screens and loneliness among Gen Alpha.
