Is the decline in adult literacy related to student reading scores? Part 2
by Michael Keany

Short answer: yes, declining adult literacy and reduced family reading practices are plausibly contributing factors to lower student reading scores—but the relationship is indirect, cumulative, and mediated by home literacy environments, not a simple one-to-one causal chain.

Let’s break this into two parts.

1. Could declining adult literacy contribute to declining student reading scores?

Conceptually, yes—and the mechanism is well-established in research.

Adult literacy matters not only for employment or civic life, but because it shapes what researchers call the home literacy environment: how often adults read, how confidently they read aloud, how they talk about text, and whether reading is modeled as a valued activity.

Decades of research show that:

• Children whose parents read frequently and comfortably are exposed to richer vocabulary, syntax, and background knowledge before formal schooling.

• Parents with lower literacy skills are less likely to read aloud, ask comprehension questions, or engage in extended language-rich conversations around books.

• These differences emerge before kindergarten and compound over time.

When adult literacy stagnates or declines at scale—as recent U.S. assessments indicate—the average literacy environment children encounter at home likely weakens, especially in communities already facing economic stress.

This does not mean parents are uncaring or disengaged. It means:

• Reading may feel harder, more effortful, or less rewarding.

• Adults may rely more on screens, video, or oral communication than print.

• Schools increasingly shoulder the full burden of literacy development.

So while today’s adults are not the same people as today’s fourth graders, adult literacy levels shape the ecosystem in which children grow up. That makes adult literacy a background condition, not a proximal cause—but still influential.

2. Is there data showing a decline in parents reading to children?

Yes. Multiple national surveys show clear declines in family reading frequency, particularly since the early 2010s and accelerating after the pandemic.

Key findings from major surveys

Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report

• The share of parents reading aloud to children ages 0–5 declined steadily from 2012 to 2022.

• Parents citing “lack of time” and “child prefers screens” increased sharply.

• Fewer children report being read to “almost every day,” especially in middle- and lower-income households.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

• Pediatric literacy initiatives report reduced shared reading time, particularly after COVID disruptions.

• Families report more difficulty sustaining routines like bedtime reading.

Common Sense Media

• Family media-use studies show sharp increases in screen time for both adults and children, often displacing shared reading.

• Adults themselves report reading fewer books for pleasure—a strong predictor of whether children are read to.

NCES Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies

• Parents’ reported frequency of reading to young children has flattened or declined, with widening gaps by income and parental education.

Taken together, the data point to less shared reading, not more, across the last decade.

Putting the two trends together

There is no single dataset that directly links:

declining adult literacy → reduced parent reading → lower NAEP scores

…but the chain of evidence across studies is consistent:

1. Adult literacy in the U.S. has declined since 2017.

2. Adults report reading less themselves.

3. Parents report reading less to children.

4. Children enter school with a weaker vocabulary and background knowledge.

5. NAEP reading scores decline—especially at the basic and below-basic levels.

This is a systems-level explanation, not an individual one. Schools alone cannot fully compensate for weakened literacy environments outside school.

Why this matters for educators and leaders

If we treat NAEP declines as purely instructional failures, we miss half the picture. The data suggest we also need:

• Family literacy initiatives, not just student interventions

• Adult reading support through libraries, community colleges, and workforce programs

• Simple, low-barrier parent guidance on reading aloud—even for parents who struggle with reading themselves

In short: Student literacy does not exceed the literacy ecosystem that surrounds it.

Addressing student reading outcomes without attending to adult literacy and family reading habits is likely to produce only limited gains, no matter how strong the curriculum.

Original Article------------------------------

Prepared with the assistance of AI software

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (4) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com