Reading Achievement of US students
The low levels of U.S. students' reading achievement in international comparisons have led to a lot of controversy. Some have used the less than stellar scores as evidence that American schools are failing disastrously. Others say that the problems are overblown. It is clear, however, that we are far from being number one. If you want to learn more about this issue, you can turn to an interesting discussion available at the Center for Public Education. http://discussions.centerforpubliceducation.org.
It is useful to keep in mind that from the perspective of an individual child, large scale comparisons are not really where it's at. Even if lots of other kids in the nation are having problems, that does not ease the burden and anxiety that each child feels at doing poorly. The goal and dream of all parents is rightly to get their children to the best level of reading possible. That is what Phonics Plus Five is designed to do.
