About half of all parents say that their children have struggled to learn how to read at some point in their education.
Still, the majority think that their child鈥檚 elementary school is putting the right amount of emphasis on reading skills, and that instruction in the subject is going 鈥減retty well,鈥� or 鈥渙k.鈥�
These are the from a nationally representative survey of 800 parents of children in grades K-5 conducted by the polling firms Public Opinion Strategies and Impact Research.
The results shine a light on parents鈥� understanding of the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� movement鈥攁 recent push to align classroom instruction with evidence-based practice. Since 2019, more than half of states have passed laws or taken other measures to mandate that schools change their approach to reading instruction, often introducing new teacher training and materials.
Even as states have called for these overhauls, the survey shows that most parents have generally positive views of their children鈥檚 schools and the reading instruction they currently receive.
This preference for local school systems and teachers is 鈥渁 phenomenon we see in education polling a lot,鈥� said Brian Stryker, the managing partner at Impact Research, in a briefing on the results on Tuesday.
Still, very few鈥攐nly 6 percent鈥攐f parents say reading instruction is going 鈥渧ery well,鈥� he noted.
鈥淭here is a belief that there is potentially room for improvement here, even if they don鈥檛 see a huge problem today,鈥� Stryker said.
Parents are more concerned after seeing national test results
In general, parents in the survey were split on the state of education in the country鈥攁bout half rated schools in America as excellent or good, while half rated them poor or not so good. But when it came to teachers, most respondents had higher opinions. Three quarters of parents rated teachers as excellent or good.
For reading instruction specifically, 46 percent felt that instruction had declined in recent generations. A quarter said it was about the same, and 27 percent said it was a little or a lot better.
Parents鈥� views on their children鈥檚 reading instruction varied slightly across different demographic groups.
But then, the survey presented parents with data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, showing that only 32 percent of 4th graders met the 鈥減roficient鈥� standard on the test in 2022. After parents read this statistic, their perception of reading instruction in the U.S. changed.
Thirty-seven percent said that there was 鈥渁 crisis,鈥� while 24 percent said it was going poorly.
Often in political polling, new information like this doesn鈥檛 change minds to a large extent, but it did in this instance, said Stryker.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen this play out,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s parents learn more, they get a lot more concerned about how reading is going in America.鈥�
(Meeting 鈥減roficient鈥� on NAEP is a high bar to clear鈥攊t represents 鈥溾�� and is not the same as meeting grade-level standards. For more on the different NAEP achievement levels, see this story.)
Despite these concerns about the national landscape, parents had a generally positive view of their own children鈥檚 reading. Most鈥�87 percent鈥攕aid their child enjoyed reading 鈥渁 lot鈥� or 鈥渟omewhat,鈥� and 82 percent were either very or somewhat confident in their children鈥檚 progress in learning to read. Only 13 percent of parents thought their children were behind grade level.
The findings from this poll echo other , which demonstrate that parents generally think their children are doing better in school than national tests of student achievement find that they are.
There are a couple of reasons for this, Stryker said: 鈥淥ne, people like to think their kids are above average. And two, people do see their kids making progress.鈥�
But the 13 percent of parents who say their children are behind 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 square鈥� with the low proportion of students who are proficient according to NAEP, he said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a gap there that is making parents feel more confident than maybe they should about their kids鈥� reading ability,鈥� Stryker said.
When asked to choose between instructional approaches, parents prefer phonics
When asked about specific reading instructional practices, parents said they were familiar with many of the approaches used in U.S. classrooms.
But they鈥檙e less sure about which methods are most effective.
Research has demonstrated that the most effective way to teach children how to read words is to teach them how letters correspond to sounds, and how to blend those sounds together to lift the words off of the page.
But other methods of word-reading have proliferated in U.S. schools, including one known as 鈥渃ueing.鈥�
In this approach, students are encouraged to use multiple sources of information鈥攖he letters in words, but also pictures and the context of the story鈥攖o guess what the words on the page say. However, studies have shown that encouraging students to rely on context clues can take their focus away from the word itself, lowering the chances that they鈥檒l use their phonics knowledge to read it and store it in their memory.
When asked what research has shown is the most effective way to teach kids to read, most parents in the survey鈥�64 percent鈥攕aid a combination of sounding words out and having them guess words from context or pictures on the page.
鈥淚 largely believe that鈥檚 just because people aren鈥檛 sure,鈥� said Robert Blizzard, a partner at Public Opinion Strategies. 鈥淭hey kind of take the Goldilocks position.鈥�
But when asked to pick one of two methods as the most effective, three-quarters of those parents that originally said 鈥渂oth鈥� picked phonics. About three-quarters of all survey respondents also favored their district schools teaching phonics and not cueing.
鈥淧arents don鈥檛 need to be moved on this,鈥� Stryker said. 鈥淚f anything, lawmakers are behind parents on this.鈥�
The survey did not ask about other important elements of reading, including fluency, vocabulary, language structure, comprehension, and background knowledge.
