Response to The Atlantic’s “America Is Sliding Toward Illiteracy”

Our nation’s abysmal reading scores are the most critical challenge facing education today. And while Idrees Kahloon’s article, “America Is Sliding Toward Illiteracy” (The Atlantic, October 14, 2025) rightly points out that lowered expectations and a “phone-based childhood” are major culprits —and (re)imposing high standards and giving the schools the resources needed to meet them are part of the solution— it overlooks an important question.

Are we doing enough to stop this literacy crisis?

With the National Literacy Institute reporting that more than 50% of American adults read below a sixth-grade level, the answer is no, we’re not. And if we don’t take action now to reverse the dramatic decline, this crisis will escalate to a five-alarm blaze. 

To provide the objective insights needed to improve literacy rates, we need a universal framework for the nation that doesn’t add more tests but rather measures student reading ability, text complexity, and growth and places them on the same scale, regardless of shifting proficiency standards. With a common measure in a connected framework (like the Lexile measure), educators and administrators across schools, districts, and states can pinpoint where students are today so they can predict, forecast, and plan for what’s next.  

Knowing a student’s reading measure creates an actionable narrative that identifies gaps and opportunities, sets attainable goals, and defines the next steps in their reading journey. By adopting a universal measure, we will successfully level the playing field and provide truly equitable measurement for every American student, despite the backdrop of differing state accountability systems. We are proud to work with 21 state departments of education in this effort.

America will never be great again unless we make it literate first. That’s why it’s imperative that we connect learning today with the skills needed for college, for careers, and most important, for life. By introducing a universal measure that connects a student’s reading ability with the difficulty of a text, we establish a common baseline so administrators, educators, and parents can take action and create learning pathways that reverse this trend and create a brighter future for all.