ANALYSIS: NAEP's the Indicator; the Problem Runs Far Deeper
Falling reading scores can be reversed. But not until we set the technology down and return to deep engagement with books, and wide-ranging classroom discussions unfettered by culture wars.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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“Alarming,” wrote The 74. “Disappointment,” wrote the Fordham Institute. “Underwhelming,” wrote K12 Drive.
What’s the handwringing over? The latest round of scores from the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) were released this week, and the results were — dismal.
Eighth-grade reading scores showed no states scoring higher than they did in 2022 — at the height on the pandemic — eight doing worse, and 44 showing no statistically significant change.

It’s basically the same story for fourth-grade reading.

One can see the battle lines being drawn. Conservative lawmakers like Gov. Glenn Younkin will likely bemoan “failing” schools, call for “higher standards,” and impose still more top-down legislation that dictates what happens in the classroom — Virginia Literacy Act, anyone?
Teachers’ groups will downplay the results, talk about COVID; Social, Emotional, Learning; and demand more money in the classroom.
And all of it together will not move the needle.
The problem doesn’t lie in testing (we do plenty), or SEL, or more money, or “intensive tutoring.”
It lies in coming to grips with the destructive role that technology is having on students and their families.
Say It Plain — Technology Sucks
When it comes to the use of technology in the classroom, there’s plenty of research to choose from. If you’re inclined to support its use, there’s “data” to support that position. Don’t like technology? Yup, there’s data to support that position, too.
So let’s step back from that for just a moment and ask a broader question.
Are students prepared for what comes after high school?
Let’s start with a metric that most schools use to measure college readiness, understanding that this test is also problematic and flawed. According to a February 2024 study in EdWeek, the paper of record for all things education in the U.S.:
college readiness has reached historic lows, according to several metrics—including the lowest scores in 30 years on the ACT and declining scores on the SAT, the two primary standardized tests used for college admissions. And yet, more than 4 in 5 high school seniors report feeling “very” or “mostly” academically prepared for college, according to a 2023 ACT nationwide survey
And don’t blame COVID.
While experts agree that the pandemic exacerbated declining academic performance across all demographics and stages of K-12 learning, signs of falling college readiness began earlier. In 2023, the average ACT score was 19.5 out of a possible 36, and the 6th straight year of decline.
The evidence goes far beyond the test metrics, however. The number of college freshmen taking a remedial math course was 51 percentage points higher in 2020 than in 2015, and 33.3 percentage points higher for those taking remedial reading and writing classes over the same period.
Or, just talk to college professors.
Recently I taught a college journalism class where less than 5 percent of the class read news of any type. Their source for information? TikTok. My colleagues tell me this is not unusual.
This admission is telling. Students increasingly struggle, or simply refuse, to engage with lengthy, difficult texts. Why should they?
ChatGPT allows students to write papers without reading the books. An array of online tools that describe books at such length students looking to simply “know the facts” can do that with relative ease. Why bother with the reading?
Why, indeed. Students don’t. And neither do their families or our society at large. A 2024 piece written for the National Endowment for the Arts reports:
survey results from three different sources—the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Education, and, yes, the Arts Endowment—have shown a gradual and worrisome trend of fewer Americans reading for pleasure.
But again, one doesn’t need the surveys to show what teachers at every level already know.
Report, after report, after report show a clear connection between screen time/technology and a decline in reading.
Sweden, long recognized as one of the better nations for education, has recently raised a red flag over the use of technology. It finds that screen time is “a key factor in declining academic performance among students.” Its solution? “A return to traditional textbooks in schools.”
And yet, our schools are putting technology in the hands of students at every turn. Laptops are given to every student; Canvas has replaced syllabi as the center for all classroom materials; grades are all tracked online; and teachers are confronted with an endless array of technology “tools” they are often expected to use in the classroom.
The mantra now? Teachers shouldn’t talk, they should “engage” students with “self-directed learning” using as much technology as they can muster.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of this, technology and self-directed learning are like sugar. A little tastes great. Too much will rot your teeth — or, in this case, your brain.
The result? Students don’t interact with one another. When they read, they read heavily edited snippets as opposed to entire books. And Socratic dialogue, long a cornerstone of education at the best schools in America, has become all but verboten.
We have decided that technology and screen time are more important than meaningful interaction and thoughtful discussion.
The Cost
When not just our students, but our society as a whole, has decided to trade reading and dialogue for technology and screen time, we grow increasingly isolated in our experiences.
COVID, if it showed anything, reminded us that human isolation is not a good thing. And that but not being together, our behavior becomes increasingly anti-social and egocentric.
This is what technology does, however, to students’ minds. When we depend solely on the pablum that computers feed us, we lose the ability to distinguish quality literature and sources from nonsense.
More important, we lose the ability to talk — really talk and listen to — one another. And fear of the other becomes an obsession.
Critical Race Theory and systemic racism are two ideas that terrify too many people. The response? Ban it.
Suggest some books are superior forms of literature and you can find yourself branded a colonialist. Marginalize, or downplay, great books.
Rather than listening to all these ideas and wrestling with them, we pick and choose what we want, find the easiest path to getting the gist of the ideas without reading, and then use what we know to attack those we don’t agree with.
In short, hello, “culture wars,” goodbye liberal education.
High-stakes testing moved us down this road by removing critical thinking, and pushing us from reading books to memorizing facts. Technology has only accelerated the trend.
Until we restore liberal education to the classroom, NAEP scores will continue to decline.
So, too, will our ability to function as a healthy society.
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