As the world becomes faster, larger and more technologically dependent, some old-fashioned skills have fallen away. This is often beneficial, as it significantly increases productivity and allows for larger expansion of the world’s knowledge, as people are tasked with less busy work. In schools, however, this uncertainty on which skills should be taught can become problematic. The United States (U.S.) is currently facing its largest decline in student reading levels in recorded history.
Although there is a known decline in reading levels, many wonder whether the act of reading has become obsolete. Classrooms across the nation have transitioned to excerpt based reading education, and students increasingly rely on summaries and artificial intelligence to digest information in a faster way. This causes many to wonder at what point these shortcuts have consequences.
The reality is that reading is proven to influence the brain in many different ways. It is not just a means of gaining information, and is not isolated to a particular class or assignment. Reading is connected to emotional intelligence, critical thinking, social skills and cognitive function.
Despite this educational importance, reading test statistics have significantly dropped over the past several years, with 12th grade reading levels falling for all but the most advanced students. Measured national reading levels for high school seniors are now below where they were in 1992.
When looked at in a broader context, student reading levels are representative of wider data as well. 54% of adults in the U.S. have a literacy below a 6th grade level and “130 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children.”
The effects of declining reading levels can be seen in Arlington as well as the U.S. as a whole. Since the pandemic, reading levels have been abnormally low in the county, with large numbers of children reaching middle school while in need of severe reading help. This is difficult for secondary educators to handle and allows children to begin secondary school systems at a disadvantage to their peers.
Teachers see the strain of declining student literacy rates up close, regardless of the level of class that they teach. They have varying opinions on what reading truly means and what the best way to foster it in the classroom is.
Mr. Richard Greene, an Advanced Placement (AP) Language and 9th Grade English teacher, expressed his concern for declining reading levels of students, particularly as these students move into the workforce.
“Most of the things in the world that are important to understand are written down and have to be read,” Mr. Greene said. “If [students] don’t have efficiency in reading, they are just going to miss all important ideas and concepts and insights and information that they are going to need to live a productive life.”
Although there are many statistics demonstrating a decline in student literacy, the cause of this phenomenon is disputed. Teachers are often the closest observers of the problem. Mr. Jeffery Beckett, an AP Literature and 10th Grade honors English teacher, pointed to several potential modern obstacles to student reading, including a rise of digital information.
“Kids grow up, you know, with digital electronic stuff and that becomes, you know, their way of getting information,” Mr. Beckett said. “Reading is a task that takes time, and it takes skill level as well… if it is not practiced and modeled at home, then the student could have a problem.”
The use of artificial intelligence as a means of shortcutting more dense reading is a recent phenomena. Summaries and CliffsNotes, on the other hand, have always been used by students. Mr. Philip Krauth, a teacher of International Baccalaureate (IB) English Literature, pointed out that students often lose the full value of a text when they use these unauthorized external tools.
“If you are interested in value, if you are interested in quality, then you go to the real thing,” Mr. Krauth said. “If you are interested in efficiency and quantity, then you go to the summary, you go to having somebody else do the work for you. What do you gain from that?”
Mr. Greene additionally believes that when students use these shortened and condensed versions of texts, they often fail to hear the original author’s voice.
“There is no way you can capture what the text has to say to you as a reader, whether its theme aesthetic value or its literary value, if you have it distilled for you,” Mr. Greene said. “The actual words on the page matter when it comes down to interpreting the meaning and determining the value of a text.”
It is easy for students to fail to connect reading to their adult life, even if they understand its importance in their high school education. In 2025, 48.5% of adults did not read a single book. Mr Krauth explained the importance of reading regardless of career.
“When you are reading fiction, it allows you to imagine possibilities,” Mr. Krauth said. “The more versed you are, and wider read you are, just, the more knowledge you have, and the more you are inclined to have true knowledge and understand things on a deeper level.”
In a world of short-form media, it is important to understand the value that can be gained from diving into longer texts. As the nation faces a continued decline of reading levels, educators and students alike will be challenged to reverse the trends. Many teachers, however, are not only looking for quantitative success, but additionally hope that their students will gain a deeper love for reading.
As Mr. Beckett said, “There’s nothing better than reading a book cover-to-cover.”
