RAND and AERDF released a new report examining teachers’ perspectives on what is needed to help older K-12 students with reading. The data in this report is a nationally representative sample of U.S. grade 3–8 teachers across all subjects.
Key findings include:
- Almost three-quarters of teachers in grades 3–8 say that they need access to more resources to identify and support students with reading difficulties.
- According to teachers across all subjects, students spend more than half of their class time reading and writing.
- These grade 3–8 teachers estimate that 44% of their students always or nearly always experience difficulty reading the written content within their instructional materials.
- Among teachers in grades 3–8, 40% hold misconceptions about how students develop word reading skills, and nearly half of teachers in these grades report that their primary source of knowledge about reading instruction comes from their personal experiences in the classroom.
The full report is available here: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3358-1.html
About the Report:
This study was supported by the Reading Reimagined program of the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) through funds provided to RAND. AERDF is a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing research and development in PreK-12 education. Founded in 2021, AERDF pursues positive, multigenerational change by unlocking scientific discoveries and creating innovative solutions that improve teaching, learning, and assessment systems within education. For more information on Reading Reimagined please visit https://aerdf.org/programs/readingreimagined.
The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent views of Reading Reimagined or AERDF.
