This series of op-ed pieces come to the News-Gazette through English Composition classes at Valencia College's Osceola campus.
I will be the first to admit reading has never come easy for me. In my elementary years I struggled to read as fast as my peers or comprehend the same material. I was one of those kids who got pulled out of class to join others in small groups for extra support, but that didn’t stop me from learning how to read.
Looking at more recent years, it seems that the struggle to read remains common. Students of all ages are struggling to read at grade level. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data shows that from 2022-24, student scores on reading have dropped and declined dramatically. This is because many are not getting the help they need to improve. Students deserve more support early on in their education to help improve Florida’s low reading proficiency rates.
Students today have not been able to recover from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic that forced students from all grades to learn virtually.
Comparing Florida students reading levels from before and after COVID-19, “the average student in Sarasota, Lake, Duval, Pasco, Palm Beach, Polk, Miami-Dade, and Osceola remains at least 80% of a grade level below 2019 levels in reading,” an Education Recovery Scorecard reported.
One teacher who moved from elementary to the 6th grade classroom noted COVID-19 created “a bubble” of students whose education “was interrupted at a formative time, preventing teachers from identifying and filling gaps.”
The effects of virtual learning during COVID not only continues to push students behind, but it opens the door for louder distractions to interfere with learning.
Students are no longer distracted by friends in the classroom, but also by technology. Access to short clip content like Tiktok, Youtube shorts and Instagram reels distracts from learning while stunting reading development and focus.
“When a child becomes accustomed to digesting short, bite-sized digital content (like reels or video clips), they may find longer texts or narratives challenging,” ReadabiltyTutor reports.
With technology as a distraction, students are no longer interested in reading books for their own enjoyment, replacing that with screen time. Those books help identify words, improve vocabulary, and strengthen preexisting reading skills. They also help build comprehension, understanding, and critical thinking skills—all long-term skills important to reading.
Students lose that natural curiosity and eagerness to learn and improve. Reading chunky or wordy text becomes difficult for students to break down and understand basic meaning.
Students cannot strengthen or build reading skills by scrolling behind a screen.
Building necessary reading skills in students starts way before children enter kindergarten. Before children can build their reading skills; they need to develop pre-reading skills, which experts say should begin with babies, developing stronger literacy skills later in life to lead them on track or above grade level before first grade.
Students need to be able to read at a basic level before second grade because, as the Florida Association of School Administrators notes, “There’s a 90 percent likelihood that students who aren’t reading on grade level at the end of first grade will still not be reading on grade level years into the future. And starting in third grade, the likelihood of their teacher knowing how to teach primary-level reading skills is diminished.”
With Florida students ranked 45th in reading between 2019 and 2024 according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, what will become of our students’ future if this declining reading proficiency trend continues? These students are our next generation. What will be our future, if our future cannot read or think for themselves?
Awareness to help encourage, invest, and build Florida student’s reading proficiency is at hand. Students must continue to seek out support and work hard improving their reading skills. Parents and educational staff must all work together to help support our students wherever their reading skills are at. Students, parents, and educational staff must all take action to help improve Florida literacy and no one person can do it alone.
Reading is the key, not just for Florida’s success but for students’ futures.
Gemma Bartlinski is a composition student at Valencia College Osceola.
