Many experts agree: COVID alerted American parents to what was really going on in classrooms across the country.
Sadly, some of the things parents saw as the classroom came into the living room via Zoom are backed up by hard, cold data. Take reading achievement levels for 4th-grade students in Minnesota. Only 32% of Minnesota 4th-graders scored at or above proficiency in the subject in 2022.
Things aren’t much better nationally. In 2022, only 33% of the nation’s 4th-graders were at or above proficiency in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading tests.
These charts are alarming. But chances are, if you’re like any normal American parent, you likely think such statistics are not true of your own child. Your child’s school is doing a stellar job teaching young students. Your child knows how to read. Your child measures in the upper echelons of proficiency and achievement.
That may very well be true. But don’t you want to test your hypothesis to make sure your child actually is in the top of his class, rather than in the two-thirds that are reading below grade level?
If so, here’s a simple test to try. Below are several reading selections from American educator and literary critic E. D. Hirsch’s book What Your Third Grader Needs to Know. Sensing a lack of core knowledge in American schools, Hirsch wrote a series of books–one for each year between preschool and 6th grade–detailing what a well-educated child should know at every grade level. Given that 4th grade reading assessments at both the state and national level show many students reading below proficiency levels, it seems safe to say that students are not learning the basic skills they need in the grades preceding this test.
So test your child on the following three passages. Have him read the selections out loud to you and see if he is able to clearly and easily pronounce and decipher the words. See if he understands what’s going on in the passages. Ask him if he’s ever heard these stories before. In all likelihood, you will soon know whether your child’s school is helping your child advance at a proper academic speed … or if it’s miserably failing your child.
The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Anderson:
Her little hands were almost frozen. Perhaps a burning match might warm her fingers. She drew one out. Scratch! How it sputtered as it burned! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and pretty brass ornaments. It seemed so beautifully warm that she stretched out her feet as if to warm them. But then the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the half-burned match in her hand.
She rubbed another match on the wall. It burst into flame. Where its light fell, the little girl could see through the wall to a table, covered with a snowy-white tablecloth, with splendid dishes and a steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and plums. What was still more wonderful, the goose jumped down from the dish with a knife and fork stuck into its breast and waddled across the floor to the little girl. Then the match went out, and there remained nothing but the cold wall before her.
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame:
The afternoon sun was getting low as the Rat rowed gently homewards. The Mole was very full of lunch, and already quite at home in a boat (so he thought). He began to feel more and more jealous of Rat, rowing so strongly and easily along, and he imagined that he could do it every bit as well. He jumped up and seized the oars, so suddenly that the Rat, who was gazing out over the water and saying poetry-things to himself, was taken by surprise and fell backward off his seat with his legs in the air for the second time. The Mole grabbed the oars with entire confidence.
‘Stop it, you silly fool!’ cried the Rat. ‘It’s not as easy as it looks! You’ll have us over!’
The Mole flung the oars back. He missed the water altogether, and he found himself lying on the top of the tumbled Rat. He made a grab at the side of the boat, and sploosh! Over went the boat, and he found himself in the river.
The Golden Fleece (ancient Greek Myth)
One day long ago a centaur sat on the bank of a river, speaking to a handsome young man. ‘You are now twenty years old,’ said the centaur, who had raised this man from childhood. ‘The time has come for you to reclaim the kingdom that your stepuncle, Pelias, stole from your father. Go, and may the gods be with you.’
Wearing a leopard’s skin and sandals tied with golden strings, Jason set out for the kingdom of his stepuncle. He waded across a river, and one of his sandals came loose. When Jason arrived wearing only one sandal, it worried Pelias. A wise man had long ago predicted that he would lose his kingdom to a man with one shoe.
Pelias kept his worries secret, though. He said that Jason should rule the country. ‘First there is something that you must do,’ said Pelias. ‘Bring me the golden fleece, and I will make you king.’
So, how did your child do? Perfect reading with little stumbling? Or not so great and in sore need of improvement?
Either way, there are several important steps you can take to set your child on the path to reading success, both now and in future years.
The first is to read the full volumes from which these reading selections come. Go to the library or pick up a copy of each online–and then expand to other titles which Hirsch includes in his book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the story of William Tell, and various folk tales and classic myths from diverse cultures both ancient and modern.
Using these resources, take the following steps recommended by Hirsch:
- Read aloud to your child.
- Have your child read aloud to you.
- Visit the library with your child.
- Encourage your child to write letters or keep a journal.
- Play word games with your child.
- Find language wherever you go.
- Support your child’s interests through reading.
One thing more. If your child didn’t do that great on this little reading test, don’t get frustrated and blame him. Instead, consider the school he is attending. Ask the teachers about the curriculum they’re using or how much time kids have to work on reading in the classroom. Ask other parents in your child’s classroom how their children are doing, and even consider sharing this test with them. If your child’s school is not satisfactorily training children in the most basic element of education, then perhaps you need to find another school–private, charter, micro, or even a better public one.
Finally, you can always consider homeschooling your child. With your love, encouragement, and one-on-one attention, chances are he’ll soar and learn to love reading … and many other subjects as well!
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