Not nearly well enough. Educators, parents and other interested parties have long acknowledged the general deterioration of our students' overall reading achievement. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides perhaps the best single glimpse into the nationwide problem. From NAEP, we get a basic picture of how well children read, and the picture is not encouraging. Approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level. And as disconcerting as this general situation is, specific sub-groups of students are experiencing even less success.

• Almost 70% of low-income fourth grade students cannot read at a basic level. In other words, these children struggle with foundational reading skills like summarizing and understanding a story.
• Almost half the students living in urban areas cannot read at a basic level.
• Average-performing students have made no progress over the last 10 years, and the lowest-performing readers have become less successful over this same time period.

From a national perspective these facts are deeply troubling, and cry out for a vigorous and coordinated effort by all those with a role and responsibility in educating our nation's children. Not being able to read at grade level is devastating to the nine-year old child who cannot do homework, enjoy a book or look forward to future grades with confidence and excitement.

Encouragingly, these trends in reading failure can be broken. Schools and districts can and have overcome failure and made excellent progress with even the most difficult to educate children. Unfortunately, these islands of excellence are too few and far between. Yet we know that every single child - regardless of income level or home environment - can and must learn to read by the end of third grade; thus, it is in reading instruction from kindergarten through third grade where significant new federal support for states and districts is being focused.

Research has consistently identified the critical skills that young students need to become good readers. Teachers across different states and districts have demonstrated that sound, scientifically based reading instruction can and does work with all children. The critical missing piece lies in helping able teachers benefit from the relevant research in each and every classroom. Real, nationwide progress can be made when we bring together proven methods with significant new federal resources to make sure that every child becomes a successful reader, and that each child moves forward well-prepared for a rich and rewarding academic experience.

Countless new doors are opened when children become good readers early in life. Research shows that children who read well in the early grades are far more successful in later years, which only confirms our own intuition. Young, capable readers can take greater advantage of school opportunities, and develop invaluable confidence in their own abilities. Plus, reading success leads directly to success in other subjects such as social studies, math, and science. In the long term, students who cannot read well are much more likely to drop out of school and be limited to lower-paying jobs throughout their lifetimes. Reading is undeniably the foundation for success in society. Reading must come first, and focused, federal initiatives will provide effective and meaningful support to states and districts in their crucial efforts to make all children successful, fluent readers by the end of third grade.

Parents, clearly, are our children's first reading teachers. From birth to the time children enter school, parents can build an important foundation for reading success. But once a child enters school, teachers and principals assume the primary responsibility for teaching children to read, regardless of how well parents have done their part in this foundation building. In fact, the most important mission for elementary teachers across the nation is to ensure that every child can read in light of the varying foundations with which our children begin their formal academic careers. All children rely on their teachers to learn and grow; children with less support at home rely on their teachers the most. All teachers must therefore be supported, and teachers of the poorest readers need to be supported the most.

Children may learn about the purposes of reading from a wide range of neighborhood and community resources. Libraries, community groups, faith-based organizations, and other associations each contribute in important ways to students' literacy skills. These people can and should provide many successful and enjoyable opportunities for students to read. While this support is critical, many students will not become successful readers unless classroom reading instruction meets the highest standards. For this reason, the quality and effective delivery of reading instruction sit atop the list of all elementary school goals.

America's reading problem is serious, but there are good reasons to be optimistic about the future.

First, improving the reading skills of children is a top national and state priority. The President, the First Lady, the Secretary of Education, governors, business leaders, elected officials, citizens, community organizations, parents and teachers are deeply committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that every child can read. This is just the type of deep commitment and collegial cooperation that will be needed to best address this challenge.

Second, researchers and educators have come to a constructive consensus about reading instruction and the critical skills children must learn to be successful readers. Particularly at this point in history, science has provided tremendous insight into exactly how children learn to read, and related research has identified the most essential components of reading instruction.

Lastly, grassroots efforts to focus on this problem are springing up across the nation. Local schools, districts and state educational agencies have already started to improve reading instruction. Significant new federal funds and support are being made available to support, enhance and expand these state and local efforts.

Reading First is a bold, new national initiative squarely aimed at helping every child in every state become a successful reader. For this purpose, up to nearly $5 billion will be distributed among the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and outlying areas over the next several years. These funds are specifically dedicated to helping states and local school districts establish high-quality, comprehensive reading instruction for all children in kindergarten through third grade.

Reading First acknowledges that high quality reading instruction is a national goal, but a local responsibility. To achieve this goal, classroom reading instruction must reflect effective practices, and localities will need help in getting all classrooms there. Reading First grants will support programs and proposals that are based upon the evidence on how children learn to read.

Under this ambitious initiative, the entire nation has high expectations for results. As ever, it will be left to the teachers, principals, and educators to apply the research and meet those expectations for all children. Reading First funds and support will help these professionals every step of the way.

Reading First, unlike previous national reading programs, is a classroom-focused nationwide effort designed to help each and every student become a successful reader. Every state will be eligible to apply, and the most needy schools and districts will receive the funds and other support they will need to succeed.

Second, the size and scope of the program are much larger than previous programs. We cannot acknowledge the depth of the problem without making available the support and expertise required to ensure reading success for all students.

Moreover, Reading First differs from earlier initiatives by establishing clear, specific expectations for what can and should happen for all students. Reading First specifies that teachers' classroom instructional decisions must be informed by scientifically based reading research. Through Reading First funds, grants will be available for state and local programs in which students are systematically and explicitly taught five key early reading skills:

• Phonemic awareness - the ability to hear, identify, and play with individual sounds - or phonemes - in spoken words.
• Phonics - the relationship between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language.
• Fluency - the capacity to read text accurately and quickly.
• Vocabulary - the words students must know to communicate effectively.
• Comprehension - the ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read.

Reading First appropriately concentrates attention on the classroom. After all, during the average school day, students spend most of their time in classrooms. Classroom instructional time should reflect the most accurate and up-to-date knowledge about the science of teaching children how to read. For that reason, Reading First provides funds to state and local districts to help classroom teachers improve the reading instruction they deliver to all of their children.

No, there are a variety of successful methods to teach early reading, but they share a common understanding of and commitment to the five key skills outlined above. There are better ways - and worse ways - to perform most sophisticated, multi-faceted tasks, and teaching reading is no different. But teaching reading is too important and too complex not to equip our teachers with the best methods and best training for their crucial task.

Reading First will help teachers in a variety of ways, ways suggested by teachers, for teachers. While promoting and supporting good teaching is clearly at the core of Reading First, different teachers will naturally have different, specific support needs. Rather than blaming teachers for lackluster results, Reading First will dramatically increase support for reading teachers and help remove obstacles that keep children from becoming proficient readers.

States will ensure that primary grade teachers deliver reading instruction that is informed by scientifically based reading research. For those teachers in schools and districts with the greatest need, Reading First funds may be used to organize additional professional development, purchase or develop high-quality instructional materials, or administer assessments or diagnostic instruments. Whatever the approach or specific need(s), the common goal is to make sure that teachers have all the necessary tools to provide coherent, skills-based reading instruction for all of their children.

Every state has the potential to receive significant funding very soon to improve reading achievement. Awards for Reading First will follow a straightforward, two-step process. First, each state can apply for Reading First money on the basis of how many low-income children live within the state. States with approved applications will use their funds to organize a professional development program for all kindergarten through third grade teachers, as well as in a variety of others ways, as outlined by states in their proposals. States will also provide ongoing, focused technical assistance to local schools for improving reading instruction.

The bulk of these funds, however, will go to districts and schools to meet students' instructional needs. Districts with the greatest needs will compete for the majority of the funds in state-run competitions. States will give priority to districts with high rates of poverty and reading failure. Once funds reach the local district, the Reading First monies are flexible and can be used for assessments to diagnose problems and monitor progress, professional development, reading materials, and ongoing support to improve the delivery of effective reading instruction.

Students are expected to become better readers. Teachers are expected to deliver consistent and coherent, skills-based reading instruction. District and state leaders are expected to provide educators with ongoing, high-quality support that makes a difference in the classroom. Reading First contributes to these high expectations by steadfastly supporting high-quality local and state reading initiatives with the funds need to make real improvements.

Quite simply, Reading First will be working when every child in our country becomes a successful and proficient reader, irrespective of economic circumstances or family background. Further, these efforts work when every child can read and understand a mathematics problem, social studies textbook, or science experiment because of a firm reading foundation established in early elementary years through well-delivered, good instruction. These efforts work when every child is ready for unlimited success and achievement in the later grades because every child learned to read in the early grades.