Page 4    |    ©The Children’s Reading Foundation with permission from Lynn Fielding

 ©The Children’s Reading Foundation with permission from Lynn Fielding    |    Page 5

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TEACHERS OF SECOND THROUGH 12TH GRADES DELIVER 85% 
OF THEIR CURRICULUM BY READING. 

Reading level is the strongest indicator of a child’s academic outcomes. Schools teach 85 
percent of the curriculum using textbooks, computer screens and white boards. Through third 
grade, students are learning to read. After third grade, they are also reading to learn. Students 
who are not reading well by the end of third grade struggle to keep up in every subject, and 
their future opportunities for learning, high school graduation and adult self-sufficiency are 
significantly limited.

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A FIVE-YEAR LEARNING GAP PERSISTS FROM KINDERGARTEN 
THROUGH 12TH GRADE. 

In an average school district, out of every 10 children, two children enter kindergarten with 
language and literacy skills two-to-three years below grade level (see red and orange runners on graph 
below), two enter a year behind (yellow runner), and two enter at grade level (green runner). The top 

four-in-10 children will start one-to-two years above grade level (teal and blue runners). 

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CHILDREN WHO START BEHIND OFTEN STAY BEHIND THROUGH 
12TH GRADE AND BEYOND.

Starting one year behind means students will need to achieve their year of normal growth 
PLUS another year of growth in order to catch up. This is compounded for students who are 
even further behind. They will require this additional growth for two or three consecutive years 
– a very difficult process. If you do not create this extra growth, they will never catch up.

Six Ways

 Reading is Critical  to a Child’s School Success

Predicting RE ADING Failure

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YOU CAN PREDICT WHICH OF YOUR STUDENTS ARE MOST 
LIKELY TO FAIL.

By identifying those students who are one-to-three years behind in reading in kindergarten and  
first grade, you can predict which ones are at a higher risk of failure. If your education system 
does not catch them up in reading, they will fall behind in every subject area.

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STUDENTS DON’T NECESSARILY STAY IN THE SAME BAND 
WHERE THEY START. 

Some move up and some fall back. But students don’t move very far without exceptional and
focused leadership by school boards, superintendents, teachers, and principals. However, 
30 percent of students will stay in the same band they entered with in first grade. By the fifth 
grade, 80 percent will move up or down only one band.

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 And very small changes in academic 

ranking from eighth grade through 12th grade are normal.

 

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READING SCORES ARE POWERFUL PREDICTORS.

Your students’ reading scores are predictors of drop out and graduation rates. The reading 

scores also predict university enrollment outcomes because they forecast student math and 
science scores. The lowest performing group (see red runner on graph below) has a 55 percent 

chance of dropping out of high school and no chance of going to college. While the highest 
performing group (blue runner) has an 81 percent chance of going to college.

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 Lynn Fielding, 

Extraordinary Parents

 (2009).

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 Data regarding student movement within percentiles over time in reading and math is taken from an unpublished study by Lynn 

Fielding of 23,000 matched students using Northwest Evaluation Association data. The study is similar to a 2008 study with the 
results shown in 

Annual Growth for All Students, Catch-up Growth for Those Who Are Behind

 (2007).

Lynn Fielding, Extraordinary Parents (2009) pp. 12 - 15.