Baltimore’s Reading Scores are a National Disgrace

If you’re shocked by the latest scholastic reading scores,then you haven’t been paying attention. They’re pretty awful. But they’re partof a trend that goes back roughly half a century.

Across Maryland, about two-thirds of fourth graders andeighth graders are reading below grade level. That mirrors the test results indozens of other states, but not Baltimore’s. The city’s are far worse.

The numbers come from the National Assessment of EducationalProgress. It’s part of what’s known as the Nation’s Report Card.

It’s also the nation’s disgrace.

Children who can’t read decently are condemned to adulthoodswhere they can’t make a decent living. When increasing numbers of people can’tread decently, the entire culture gets dumbed down to match the marketplace.Yet, as the world gets more complex, the test scores keep getting worse.

In Maryland, the reading scores among fourth graders droppedfive points in the past year – down to just 35 percent “proficiency.” And theydropped two points among eighth graders – down to just 36 percent.

In the city, though, the numbers read like suicide notes forthe future.

Just 13 percent of Baltimore fourth graders and 15 percentof eighth graders made the grade in reading. Nationwide, the city ranks aheadof Milwaukee and Detroit. And no one else.

We can blame the usual suspects for this. The city has themost poverty, the most undernourished children, the most children fromone-parent families, the toughest outside distractions. You hear such rationalizingthrough the years, and it’s all true enough – and yet it still results infailure.

Not just the kids’ failure – but the grownups failing to getthrough to the kids, whether it’s administrators going through the motions, or teacherswho are exhausted and overmatched, or parents who aren’t doing their part.

All of this sets us up this coming winter for an old andwearisome legislative debate over money. We need more funding for schools,educators will insist. We need money for computers, for modern textbooks, forsmaller class sizes.

All of this is true enough.

But how do you make that argument against those ingovernment faced with balancing budgets who say that we’ve been sinking vastamounts already, yet the results continue to disappoint?

These are the arguments that are held every year, and we’reabout to hear them again as educators prepare for major battles in Annapolisover school funding.

And then we’ll brace for the inevitable studentdisappointments, and another generation of kids will be sentenced to adulthooddisappointments.

A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books. His most recent, “Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age,” has just been re-issued in paperback by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

You May Also Like
Dr. Scott Rifkin: The Dilemma for Jews
Joe Biden

When it comes to concern that President Biden's support for Israel is wavering, look at actions not words, writes Jmore Publisher Scott Rifkin M.D.

A New Era for the O’s
Jackson Holliday

Even the great "Earl of Baltimore," Earl Weaver, never had a lineup with as much raw talent as the 2024 Orioles team, writes Michael Olesker.

Praying for the Hostages in Gaza and the ‘Whole House of Israel’
livestream of the Shema broadcast from the Western Wall

The Acheinu prayer reminds us that the deeper we go into the experience of those suffering, the more fervently we will pray for their speedy redemption, writes Rabbi Dr. Eli Yoggev.

Global Village
Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg talks to the Beth Am audience before playing his guitar. (Photo by Jim Burger)

Despite technological strides, human beings still need to interact and be in close proximity to each other, writes Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg.