In Houston, educators and city leaders are grappling with a literacy crisis that mirrors a troubling national trend. Data shows that 73 percent of Houston’s third graders cannot read at grade level, up from 63 percent before the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, roughly one in three adults in Houston is functionally illiterate, lacking basic reading skills needed to navigate daily life and work.
Houston is not alone. Across the United States, reading proficiency has been on the decline for years. National assessment results released in September showed high school seniors’ reading scores fell to their lowest level since 1992. In fact, two out of three American fourth graders perform below the proficient reading level on the Nation’s Report Card.
Educators stress that this downward slide began even before COVID-19.
“American students’ literacy skillspeaked in roughly the middle of the last decade and have fallen significantly since that time,” said Martin West, a professor of education at Harvard University and deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance.
The pandemic then hit already vulnerable readers hard.
“It [the pandemic] really has exacerbated a problem that was already there,” noted Jacque Daughtry, executive director of Literacy Now, a Houston nonprofit.
The consequences of poor reading skills are far-reaching. Students who cannot read proficiently by third grade are at greater risk of dropping out of school and face higher odds of poverty and even incarceration as adults. In Houston, the share of third graders not reading on level jumped during the COVID years, dimming prospects for many young Texans.
Educators describe an urgent need to get kids reading fluently early, before that learning gap widens. Yet today’s youth are reading less not just in school, but for fun as well. In 2023, only 14 percent of 13-year-olds said they read for pleasure almost every day, down from 17 percent in 2022 and 27 percent in 2012. This decline in recreational reading has gone hand-in-hand with sliding comprehension scores.
Literacy in 2025 means more than cracking open a novel. It also means being tech-savvy enough to navigate a world dominated by screens, algorithms and endless information. On this front, many Americans are also falling behind. One report found that one-third of Americans lack basic digital skills, hindering their ability to participate in the modern economy. In Harris County, for example, low literacy often goes hand-in-hand with low digital skills. This is a double barrier in an era when job applications, health information and even social services have moved online.
Paradoxically, younger generations branded as “digital natives” are not necessarily digitally literate. They may swipe and tap with ease, but familiarity with apps does not equal understanding technology or information.
“Civic engagement today depends on everyone having a basic level of skill to distinguish between misinformation and fact, or to word an email, or to file taxes,” observed Shane Greenstein, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
An international study from Nov. 2024 found that 43 percent of students had limited computer and information literacy by age 14. Some tech professionals note that unlike older generations who had to tinker with PCs, today’s youth use sealed, user-friendly devices without learning what makes them tick.
Media literacy is another critical piece of the puzzle. Generation Z gets much of its news and knowledge from social media feeds curated by algorithms. What users see online is filtered and personalized, often amplifying engaging or sensationalized content regardless of accuracy.
“This dynamic is particularly concerning for young people whose identities and worldviews are still developing and who may lack the literacy skills necessary to critically evaluate the information they encounter,” noted Myojung Chung, a reporter with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review.
Meanwhile, the forefront of technological knowledge resides with a relatively small cadre of technology giants. Companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft spend billions on developing artificial intelligence and data-driven platforms. The inner workings of these systems are often proprietary and poorly understood by the general public. This dynamic has some experts worried about a growing imbalance of knowledge and power.
If large segments of the population with basic literacy and digital skills, while big technology firms and their engineers push the boundaries of “arcane” knowledge, the gap could widen into a chasm. In particular, AI could exacerbate the digital divide, leaving some communities even further behind as technology spreads.
The implications of such an imbalance in knowledge are profound. Economically, low literacy and digital skills can trap people in lower-paying jobs. The Gallup organization estimated that if Houston adults with the very lowest literacy could boost their skills by just one level, it would add an estimated $13 billion to the city’s GDP through higher incomes.
Socially, a populace that struggles to read and question information is vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation. Democratically, it raises concern that decision-making and innovation may be left to a much smaller educated or tech-trained group of people.
“We are telling our students reading is important. You need to be literate. But when do we actually model that?” asks Pamela Mason, an education professor at Harvard and the co-chair of Harvard’s Teaching and Teacher Leadership program.
Despite the worrying trends, educators and community leaders are working to bridge this gap. In 2021, the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation collaborated with the Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy to launch the Houston’s Adult Literacy Blueprint: a citywide plan to tackle low adult literacy and improve foundational and digital literacy skills for Houston residents. Meanwhile, schools are doubling down on reading fundamentals. Some Houston elementary campuses have seen success by dedicating daily time to intensive reading interventions.
Ultimately, addressing the literacy crisis will require a holistic approach. Reading comprehension, digital know-how and critical thinking are now intertwined skills. Each is needed to navigate a world where knowledge is both abundant and, at times, tightly guarded. By investing in literacy at all levels, communities like Houston can strive to ensure that knowledge is a shared strength not a dividing line.
In a world of constant innovation, the most fundamental innovation may simply be helping everyone learn to read, comprehend, and question the world around them.
