I’m not sure which gave me more hope. 

Was it the little girl marching away from the Western Sullivan Public Library’s booth at the Jeff Jamboree, a book tucked beneath each arm?

Or was it the 5-year-old’s squeal of delight when she realized she could apply for her very first library card right there at the table?

These kids get it. To borrow a phrase from the well-known non-profit, reading really is fundamental. 

But look around Sullivan County these days, and you won’t see nearly enough kids doing it. It’s hard to blame them. It’s hard to get hooked on a book when you don’t know how to read it. 

Here in Sullivan County and cross the US, the vast majority of kids are not learning to read proficiently. 

The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a nationwide test administered to a random sampling of 4th graders every two years, showed 69 percent of US fourth graders can’t read proficiently. 

Bringing things closer to home, New York State’s annual test of reading proficiency for third through eighth graders found less than half – 43 percent – of our state’s third graders tested as proficient readers in 2024. 

Breaking things down by local school district, the numbers aren’t exactly better. 

While the former Roscoe Central School District boasted 73 percent proficiency among its third graders in 2024, the test was administered to just 15 students. Four students tested at the highest level and seven more tested right at proficiency. 

Turning to districts where the student populations are significantly larger, more students tested as proficient readers, sure, because there were more students tested. Unfortunately, far more students also tested as unable to read on grade level. 

Take one district where 116 third graders were tested. Ten showed advanced proficiency in reading, and 25 more tested right at proficiency. That means just 30 percent of the total class were reading proficiently.

Another district had just 18 percent of kids reading on grade level on the 2024 assessment. 

Lest you quickly start pointing fingers at the pandemic, at teachers, at parents, or at, well, any of the usual suspects, let’s look backward. 

NAEP data shows US kids have been reading well below grade level for at least three decades. 

The pandemic didn’t cause this. 

Many of today’s parents and teachers were fourth graders themselves at some point in the past 30 years. They too were educated in a system that has failed to give kids what they need to learn to read. 

And now for the good news. 

NYS has, as of this school year, mandated all districts in the state shift to instruction that’s based in what’s known as the Science of Reading. It’s a body of scientific research that goes back more than half a century, including scientific discoveries that have revealed exactly how the brain processes information and what it needs in order to learn to read. 

Many of our local districts were ahead of the mandate and have already adopted Science of Reading-aligned curricula and are in varying stages of the process of shifting instruction to give kids what they need to succeed as readers. 

This will not happen overnight, and it will require deep investment to build strong foundations, something taxpayers should keep in mind when it’s time to vote on your local school budget. 

If you want to see kids proudly holding a book under each arm, kids excited to sign up for a library card, kids reading, then we need to do what it takes to give them the tools they need to become readers.