REPORT - After the READ Act – Beyond third grade, how well do our students read? Executive Summary

 Peter Huidekoper, Jr.                                                                                                                                                  February 2024 

                                        Executive Summary                                           

   Reading. The basic of the basics. Never the bright shiny object. And yet we must pay attention. As we have not done … beyond third grade.

   The READ Act’s focus is K-3. Most studies of the READ Act’s effectiveness use data from those four years. Reports show that many students (over 13,000 in both 2021 and 2022) finish third grade still identified with a Significant Reading Deficiency (SRD). Then what?

   The READ Act’s effort is critical. This report points to the larger picture. It will show that tens of thousands of students in grades 4-12 are terribly far behind as readers and writers. The data reminds us of the obvious: a K-3 effort was never going to be enough.

   What do we know, beyond third grade? Annual READ Act reports present the number (that districts report to the state) of students on a Read plan after grade 3, from grades 4 to grades 8 or 9. But data gathering, post-grade 3, is sketchy, as the Colorado Department of Education is the first to admit. (CDE’s Director of Elementary Literacy and School Readiness explains—below.*) 

With the numbers for each grade, 4-12, well over 54,000 students appear to be on a READ plan.    

	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
2022	14,033	x	8,395	7,914	6,762	4,813	3,324	2,525	738	48,231 without grade 5

  X – no data available due to COVID.

 

2023 - After 3rd Grade Did Not Yet Meet Expectations
CMAS -ELA	%	# of students
Grade 4	14.5%	8,063
5	7.9%	4,494
6	10.3%	5,734
7	13.2%	7,126
8	16.5%	8,561
High school
9 - PSAT	21.2%	12,391
10 - PSAT	22.1%	12,429
11 - SAT	28%	15,663
TOTAL		74,461

   Such evidence punctures what state leaders mindlessly repeat: “all students will be reading at grade level by the time they enter 4^th grade.” As you will see, CMAS and PSAT/SAT data is only more alarming.   

  FACT: on CMAS-ELA, not once in 8 years have we seen 42% of 3^rd graders Meet or Exceed Expectations.

For grades 4-8, little better: every year, fewer than 50% Meet or Exceed Expectations. 

  FACT: last spring, 74,461 students in grades 4-8 (on CMAS-ELA) and grades 9-11 (on the Reading and Writing portion of the PSAT/SAT) scored in the lowest performance level: Did Not Yet Meet Expectations. 

  FACT: last spring, on the Reading and Writing portion of the SAT, 28% of our juniors scored in the lowest performance level: Did Not Yet Meet Expectations.  

  FACT: on the one national reading test taken by Colorado students, 2022 scores for Colorado 8^th graders showed 34% proficient – the lowest score for Colorado 8^th graders since 2009. 

Time to set a new, more credible goal.

    These facts compel us to drop the empty promise of the 2012 legislation that “all students will be reading…” It has no relation to actual results. The challenge is bigger than we once imagined. We must create a new goal, one we can believe in.

    My suggestion: By the time students enter 6^th grade (NOT 4^th grade), 50% (NOT 100%) are reading at grade level.

   

    To accomplish this goal, we should heed the advice from both the Independent Evaluation of the Colorado READ ACT and the National Council on Teacher Quality: look beyond third grade. 

   

    This report recommends that we extend the READ Act’s work to K-5.  

 

    Data provided in Parts 1 and 2 of this report supports this change.

 

Part 1: The case to extend the READ Act to the K-5 years 

Over 20,000 students in grades 4-5 are still on a READ plan.

CMAS shows 30,000 to 35,000 4^th and 5^th graders perform well below grade level on literacy.

 

Part 2: The bigger picture - Reading in grades 6-12 in Colorado

34,000 students in grades 6-12 are still on a READ plan.

CMAS and PSAT/SAT results suggest over 60,000 still struggle to read well.

 

* Number of students on a READ plan, grades 4-12 – over 54,000?  “It’s no man’s land.” Data is sketchy, incomplete.     Annual READ Act reports indicate there are over 54,000 students in grades 4-12 still on a READ plan. However, the Colorado Department of Education acknowledges such numbers are, at best, incomplete. CDE does not have the authority to require districts and schools to report their numbers beyond third grade. Annual READ reports, then, merely reflect data that CDE receives. Anji Gallanos, Director of Elementary Literacy and School Readiness at CDE, explains: “We don’t oversee that (4-12 world) the way we do (K-3). I can collect what they tell us.”    In addition, there is no standard measure across the state for how schools determine who stays on a READ plan. As Gallanos puts it: “What does it mean to be on a READ plan in grades 4-12? It could mean anything.” After 3rd grade, she says, “It’s no man’s land.”     In contrast, CMAS results, as she observed, are “thoroughly vetted.” “CMAS numbers are telling a story that the READ Act (data) is not.”    For this reason, most of my analysis looks at our state tests, CMAS and PSAT/SAT, to see how many 4-12 students are struggling to read well. READ Act numbers, as worrisome as they may be, only scratch the surface.