The Bad News

" 'The 'Matthew Effect' is a term coined by Keith Stanovich, a psychologist who has done extensive research on reading and language disabilities. Because some IQ sub-tests measure information learned from reading, poor readers will score lower on these sub-tests. Over years, the "gap" between poor readers and good readers grows. The 'Matthew Effect' refers to the idea that in reading (as in other areas of life), the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (click to see diagrams). When children fail at early reading and writing, they begin to dislike reading. They read less than their classmates who are stronger readers. As a consequence, they do not gain vocabulary, background knowledge, and information about how reading material is structured. In short, the word-rich get richer, while the word-poor get poorer." See also "The Matthew Effects" by Dr. Kerry Hempenstall

"In reading, the United States ranks 15th among the 31 participating countries.... One might attribute this to the fact that English is a difficult language to learn - except that the United States was the lowest scoring of all the English-speaking countries - Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland all ranked higher." ("Ticket to Nowhere" )

"About 10 million children have difficulties learning to read. From 10 to 15 percent eventually drop out of high school; only 2 percent complete a four-year college program. Surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records show that about half have reading difficulties. Similarly, about half of youths with a history of substance abuse have reading problems." ("Why Children Succeed or Fail at Reading")

- "…students who have difficulty reading represent a virtual cross-section of American children. They include rich and poor, male and female, rural and urban, and public and private school children in all sections of the country. According to the NAEP assessment, for example, nearly one-third (32 percent) of fourth graders whose parents graduated from college are reading at the "below basic" level. In short, the failure of a substantial number of students to learn to read during the critical first three years of school is a national problem - one that confronts every community and every school in the country." Learning to Read and Reading to Learn: Helping Children With Learning Disabilities To Succeed

"Reading problems occur with equal frequency in boys and girls; schools identify 4 times as many boys, largely on the basis of behavioral, not learning, characteristics. ("A Scientific Approach to Reading Instruction")

"Some 40% of the (Pittsburgh) region's school children still read below grade level.... in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Education Policy and Issues Center calculates that 20%...of 5th graders have reading skills so poor that they have no hope of succeeding in school.... In our region, 20% equates to 5,000 children. (Maxwell King, Executive Director, Heinz Edowments, 11/1/00, Pittsburgh Post Gazette) All Children Must be Able to Read.

"Of all children identified as learning disabled, 80% are primarily impaired in reading; 90% of these children have problems with decoding skills." ("A Scientific Approach to Reading Instruction")

"In school lore, second grade is broadly viewed as the children's last chance. Those who are not on track by third grade have little chance of ever catching up. Snow, et. al., "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (Washington, DC: National Research Council/Academy Press, 1998), 212.

Of students identified as dyslexic:

in grades 1 and 2, 82% can be brought up to normal classrrom level;
in grade 3, 46% can be brought up to normal classroom level;
in grades 5 - 7, 10-15% can be brought up to normal classroom level.

"NICHD studies show that 74% of children who are poor readers in 3rd grade remain poor readers 9th grade. ("A Scientific Approach to Reading Instruction")

Literacy - Then and Now. "If schools were educating today's young people the illiteracy rate would be decreasing as the older generation passed from the scene. To the contrary, at least one estimate is that the number of illiterate Americans' is growing as much as 2,500,000 a year". David W. Kirkpatrick

"Nationally, 25% of all adults are functionally illiterate," Louisa Moats, "When Older Students Can't Read"