More than two-thirds of Ohio fourth graders weren’t proficient in reading in 2024, according to the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book.
That’s slightly better than fourth graders nationwide. But like the rest of the country, the state has seen a rise in the number of kids struggling with the basics since the pandemic.
“We have way too many students who are just not meeting the basic milestones year after year,” said Aaron Churchill, the Ohio research director for the Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank focused on education policy.
The organization has been following the state’s implementation of the Science of Reading, a phonics-focused curriculum adopted by Ohio schools a couple years ago. Churchill is hopeful the approach will help more kids master the essentials and become fluent readers.
Closing the literacy gap
The Kids Count Data Book drew on reading proficiency data from a national assessment. “That is a pretty rigorous standard,” Churchill said.
Ohio students fare better on state assessments, but Churchill says both point to an achievement gap in literacy.
“It opens up early in kids' lives,” he said. “Some of that is driven by socioeconomics and it does make it significantly harder in many of our communities to get the reading proficiency numbers that we need and expect for our kids.”
The Science of Reading is an evidence-based approach that’s helped other states, like Mississippi, start to close that gap.
“It’s sort of like a back-to-the-basics approach,” Churchill said. The curriculum teaches students to read by recognizing sound-letter relationships, and later emphasizes vocabulary and knowledge building, so older students can better comprehend what they’re reading.
When Mississippi schools started teaching reading this way, the state saw drastic improvements in national test results.
“They just went right up the national rankings,” Churchill said. “And what they did with the Science of Reading there was they didn’t just put laws on paper. They really gave educators the hands-on supports they needed to implement it well.”
Implementing the Science of Reading
Churchill is hopeful Ohio will see the same success, but he says it will likely take time for the results to pan out, as the state’s educators learn and practice the new approach.
“The key is that…we don't just give up the moment we don't see dramatic miraculous results,” Churchill said.
He says much of students’ future success will depend on how thoroughly and rigorously schools stick to the new approach. And no matter what, schools have their work cut out for them.
“We have a lot of work to do in Ohio to get every student on track in reading so they can exit high school fully ready for responsible citizenship,” he said.
