Education and Business have always been dependent systems, but until now they have seemed to occupy completely separate orbits. Today they are on a collision course.   The very way we have historically structured our educational system in North America, was in service of the growing need of businesses in the industrial revolution to have trained workers.  The fixed method of teaching the same thing to every student was modeled on the assembly line.  Even the school year, with its long summer break, was in service of a dominant business of an even earlier century: our predominantly agrarian economy.  Ironically, at the dawn of the 21st Century, when the growth of jobs and businesses in highly technical fields, requires ever-stronger ties between these two systems, we have seen retreat, recrimination and resignation.  When the essence of our financial future rests on it, the central question of our times is how to weave these systems together. Could there be a gear in a potential collective system that we could turn that would have a foundational and lasting effect on both education and our economy? At Learning Ovations, through research and practice, we found that improving 3rd grade reading is that gear in the system, the keystone result that drives education reform and future business growth.

The importance of 3rd grade reading cannot be overstated. From kindergarten through 3rd grade, children are learning how to read. However, in the 4th grade, there is a shift to reading to learn. Children who enter 4th grade and are proficient at reading only have a 9% chance of dropping out of high school. Conversely, the dropout rate for students who are below basic reading levels in the 4th grade increases to 23%. Dropouts are 63% more likely to go be incarcerated (Annie E. Casey Foundation) and 75% of all crimes are committed by high school dropouts (Education Week). In fact, some states project requirements for prison beds based on 3rd Grade reading rates.  Undereducated students who do graduate often grapple with long-term unemployment/under-employment and can be viewed as unemployable. This creates long-term personal and societal repercussions due to reduced income throughout their life, continuing inability for business to complete globally in the growing technologically based markets and accelerating the cost of pervasive poverty.  McKinsey and Co. has shown that the education gap between workers’ potential had they been better educated and where they are today, represents $2.3 trillion per annum-economic losses. This is equivalent to an ongoing, perpetual Great Recession.

While the impact of these numbers can be alarming, there is a tremendous opportunity for change.  The potential for growth and advancement in North America is profound. With Learning Ovations’ technology and research, (see http://www.workingdifferently.org/learning-ovations.html) we can teach EVERY child to read by the 3rd grade, turning this crisis into an economic opportunity on a massive scale.  Further, with STEM occupations pegged to grow by 17% between 2008 to 2018 (nearly twice the rate of other non-STEM jobs) it is incumbent for all of us to take up the gauntlet – our livelihoods depend on it!  (See our separate “Call to Action” for details).  Scientific American (September 2013) reports that 60% of students lose interest in science and mathematics in elementary school, with a precipitous drop in 5th Grade – right when, for nearly an equivalent number, their inability to read becomes manifest!  Learning Ovations has its hand squarely on driving that gear of change -- we improve the outcomes of ALL children.  Yes, struggling readers and students living in poverty improve to grade level or above, but perhaps even more profoundly, our classrooms show dramatic improvement in children reading at proficiency levels or above: 75% in Learning Ovations classrooms versus only 32% nationally.  In other words, we increase the potential pool of STEM achievers by significantly more than double the national average. 

            Finally, the key for all businesses and economic development policy makers to remember: Re-think of how you view third graders: in just over ten years they will be your employees, customers and core to your region’s business attractiveness.  Don’t value them lightly.

Why, despite all the experimentation in education, have statistics on third-grade reading proficiency shown so little improvement?  And how has Learning Ovations, Inc. succeeded where no one has before?

Learning to read is the most complex task we expect children to master – more complex than learning to play the piano. And the stakes are much higher. Children who do not read well are more likely to drop out of high school, become teen parents, or enter the criminal justice system. You might think learning to talk is more difficult but in fact, we are essentially hard-wired to learn how to talk. We are not wired to learn to read. Reading is a human invention that coopts parts of the brain originally designed for other tasks, like language, hearing, and perception.  That means that in order to learn how to read, children need careful and highly technical instruction. First they must master the alphabetic principle – that letters stand for sounds and that these letters combine to create words that have meaning. Then they have to learn how to make sense of what they have decoded, which is even more difficult. Unfortunately, because it is a polyglot, English is among the most difficult languages to read: the spelling is irregular and the vocabulary is vast. And we expect children to accomplish this by the end of third grade!

That said, virtually all children CAN learn to read by fourth grade if they are provided optimal amounts and types of reading instruction. For example, in a recent longitudinal study, we randomly assigned students to receive individualized instruction from first through third grade based on their unique constellation of reading and vocabulary skills. The results revealed that 94% of students who received the individualized instruction in all three grades were reading at or above a fourth grade level by the end of third grade and many were reading above grade level – a fifth grade level on average. Compare this to 78% of students in the control group; and this is still better than the national average of about 66% based on recent NAEP scores (58% in Arizona).

So what was different for these students compared to students from across our nation? About 50% of them qualified for the free and reduced lunch program so it was not that the students came from well-to-do families. Nor were these charter schools. But there were some differences. First, the study brought research into the classroom. Second, the study was conducted in Florida where pre-kindergarten is state-funded and available to all children. Thus virtually all of the students attended high quality preschools. Third, teachers used valid and reliable assessments to guide their instruction and planning using Assessment-to-instruction software – technology helps. Fourth, teachers received training and professional development, including a literacy coach, to support their efforts. Finally, school leaders and teachers welcomed the opportunity to participate in rigorous research as partners while researchers made their findings relevant and accessible to them. With increased funding for rigorous research through the US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and other funders, such school-research partnerships can flourish and continue to improve outcomes for our students.