Why Can't Johnny Read? NAEP Report Shows No Reading Progress

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The nation's report card, formally called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, for reading was released yesterday. The results are grim. The 2009 reading scores for eighth graders are one point higher (out of 500 points) than the scores for 2007 for eighth graders. For fourth graders the scores were exactly the same in 2009 as they were in 2007. Even more depressing is the fact that since the NAEP testing began in 1992, these scores of both fourth and eight graders have gone up four points each (remember this is 4 out of 500). A number of resources are available on the NAEP website. Starting at this map, you can check out your state profiles. You can compare data across states here. Here is the entire report.

OK, this is not really a special ed issue, except that all kids need to be able to read. So my question, and I don't think that this is out of place, is after all these years of reforms, and all the new peer-reviewed, data-driven, scientific based reading methodologies, why can't Johnny read?

Any theories?

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