Reading, Writing, and Mathematics

When thinking of the American dream, people often draw images of a single family house in a sprawling suburbs and children attending the good, local public school. While today that dream might be pictured a little differently, the children attending the best school nearby has definitely changed as well as what is learned in those schools. According to this New York Times article, new statistics have come out showing how children and teens in the United States are succeeding in mathematics, but lagging behind in reading skills.

The new data is not hard to believe but considering learning outside of school, it would make sense that reading skills would be better than math. Kids are read to at bedtime and are constantly surrounded by themes and skills that are need in reading classes. Most kids are not using math all the time in their house and with their friends. According to the article, "86 percent of students score at a proficient or advanced level in math, while only about two thirds reach those levels in reading over the same period" when taking data from different school districts on the East Coast. 

As educators across the country argue about how to improve math scores and how were lagging behind other highly developed countries in the world, perhaps it is time to start focusing on reading and writing skills. What do you think could be some ways to improve reading skills across the country?