A new report from Amplify, a curriculum and assessment company, provided a mixed bag of good and bad news surrounding early literacy.
First, the good news: more young students are on track to learn to read and fewer are behind than during the pandemic. End-of-year assessment data from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) shows that about 68 percent of K-2 students are on track to learn to read, representing a significant increase from mid-school-year data that showed just 56 percent of K-2 students were ready to learn to read.
Broken down by grade level, 70 percent of kindergartners were at or above reading benchmarks at the end of the 2024–25 school year (compared to 68 percent in 2023–24 and 49 percent in 2020–21); 70 percent of first graders also met or exceeded these benchmarks (compared to 68 percent in 2023–24 and 56 percent in 2020–21); and 65 percent of second graders were also on track (compared to 64 percent in 2023–24 and 57 percent in 2020–21).
“Five years out from the pandemic, we’re seeing encouraging signs that early literacy recovery is taking hold as more students across all early grades are on track to learn to read, with kindergarteners and first graders leading the recovery,” Paul Gazzerro, director of customer data at Amplify, said in a statement.
Despite these successes, the report also found that year-over-year progress has slowed down, with the percentage of students on track only improving by 1-2 points in each grade. Additionally, data show that although boys score the same or better than girls in reading readiness at the beginning of the year across K-2, girls show more improvement than boys as the year goes on, narrowing gaps and sometimes outperforming them by the end of the year.
As local educational agencies seek to continue supporting early readers, Amplify recommends they administer benchmark assessments three times per year to monitor levels of risk for reading difficulties, and analyze end-of-year data by school, grade and classroom to create integrated plans that:
- Help to make informed decisions to support students who are at risk for not learning to read
- Allocate additional instructional time and resources for at-risk students
- Regularly monitor progress for students, making adjustments as needed
- Ensure all students receive instruction that is evidence-based
- Instill a love of reading during school programs, with caregiver and community support
“Grades K–2 remain critical years for literacy development,” said Susan Lambert, Amplify chief academic officer of elementary humanities. “To support young readers, educators need data-driven insights into student reading development and instructional practices that are based in the Science of Reading.”
