30 Percent of K-3rd Graders in the Quad Cities are Illiterate

Just under 30 percent of Iowa's & 27 percent of Illinois kindergarten through third-grade students are not meeting national education standards when it comes to the subject of ready, but the numbers have been rising over the past few years, state officials said Wednesday.

Data from screening of Iowa's K-3 students in spring 2018 showed that about 71% met or exceeded the tests used to measure reading abilities. That up about 1 percent from last year but about 7% from 2015. Illinois' numbers were nearly identical. Though objectives overall are similar in Iowa and Illinois, the steps they take to correct the problem relies on the local and state governments. Illinois' numbers grew nearly 3% over the past couple of years. Iowa, as stated above, barely grew.

Des Moines Register Reports Gov. Kim Reynolds, acting Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg and Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise released the data at a news conference at Cornell Elementary School in Saylor Township. Afterward, all three state officials were paired with elementary students and they briefly read aloud to one another from books.

I'm going to go ahead and say it. Schools may be partially to blame, but this is an "L" for parenting. We need to get the iPads and phones out of our kids hands and hand them books. Less you tube more reading! That's all I'll say on the matter.

How do you think your child's school is doing? Is your kid literate?