Report: About half of Utah’s third graders struggle with reading — so what can be done?

Literacy is fundamental in determining a child’s educational success and academic future.

And when young students are lacking their “ABC” skills, it’s all but certain they will struggle with other aspects of their education and future career opportunities.

Almost half of Utah’s third graders are not “reading proficient” — they are not meeting grade-level reading expectations. That sobering figure is reported in a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute analysis released Monday.

And it’s a trend stretching beyond the Beehive State.

National assessments from the United States reveal plunging reading scores for American primary and secondary students.

“Early childhood literacy is not just an academic benchmark; it is the cornerstone of a child’s future success,” said Andrea Thomas Brandley, senior education analyst at the Gardner Institute and lead author of the report, in a Gardner release.

“The ability to read proficiently by third grade profoundly impacts a student’s entire educational journey, their economic opportunities, and their capacity to engage fully in civic life.”

But the analysis includes hopeful news. Research shows that students struggling with reading are sharpening their reading skills when they receive “systematic, evidence-based instruction and targeted interventions.”

Utah’s early literacy challenges

Monday’s Gardner report reveals many Utah students are entering upper elementary grades without meeting grade-level expectations.

“Literacy development begins well before children enter school and continues across the early grades,” the report noted. “Once in school, reading outcomes reflect conditions shaped by families, classrooms, school leadership, districts, educator preparation programs, and state and community supports.”

In Utah in 2025, 53.3% of kindergarteners, 48.2% of first graders, 48.7% of second graders, and 50.3% of third graders met grade-level expectations, according to the analysis. These rates indicate that roughly half of Utah students progress through the early grades without reaching expected reading proficiency.

The Gardner report did note that Utah’s kindergarten proficiency increased from 37.7% in 2021 to the 53.3% figure in 2025 — perhaps a reflection of the expansion of full-day kindergarten.

There are also early literacy variations across the state’s districts and student groups. For example, less than 30% of third graders in Utah’s Piute School District were reading at grade level. Over 70% of their counterparts in the more affluent Park City School District reached proficiency benchmarks.

Meanwhile, according to the analysis, only 18% of Utah third graders with “limited English-language proficiency” and 35.2% of “economically disadvantaged” students met grade level expectations.

But the report added a critical caveat: Among Utah schools where most students are economically disadvantaged, reading proficiency ranges from below 20% to above 70% — “showing that some schools serving students with greater needs achieve substantially higher outcomes.”

State leaders have taken notice of the reading challenges — and taken action — including the passage of 2022’s Senate Bill 127, which enhances and aligns strategies to boost early literacy.

The ‘Mississippi Miracle’ literacy story

Monday’s Gardner report includes an assurance: Nearly all children can learn to read.

“Peer-reviewed studies of early interventions for struggling readers find that only 1–3% of students continue to experience severe reading difficulty when they receive consistent, evidence-based support,” the report noted.

“Student demographics or background characteristics did not predict who succeeded in these interventions. This indicates that a child’s circumstances do not limit their capacity to become a proficient reader when instruction is well-designed and delivered effectively.”

The report cites encouraging early literacy data out of Mississippi — the state with the country’s largest share of economically disadvantaged children.

Even as national reading proficiency numbers decline, the Magnolia State has achieved “sustained improvement” in fourth grade reading scores over the past decade.

Mississippi ranked 49th nationally in reading proficiency in 2013 and then rose to 29th in 2019. By 2024, it had reached a top-10 national ranking, according to the Gardner analysis.

So how did it happen?

“Mississippi’s progress reflects a long-term, comprehensive effort rather than a single policy change,” the report explained. “Over roughly ten years, the state aligned curriculum, expanded statewide coaching, provided sustained professional learning, strengthened early screening and intervention, implemented third-grade retention, and invested in early learning supports.”

Laying foundations for literacy development

Monday’s Gardner report emphasized that early literacy development is not limited to the K-3 classroom.

A child experiences rapid brain growth during his or her first five years of life. And a preschooler exposed to everyday language interactions with caregivers builds a firm reading foundation.

“These early experiences can help build children’s vocabulary, oral language development, and readiness to learn to read,” according to the report.

The analysis also noted that when pre-schoolers have opportunities for daily reading, storytelling and “conversational back-and-forth,” they simultaneously enjoy vocabulary and oral language growth.

“One study estimates that children who are read to frequently in early childhood may hear over 1.4 million more words from shared storybook reading by kindergarten than children who are rarely or never read to,” the report noted.

Meanwhile, access to “enriching early learning environments” such as pre-K programs can supplement critical literacy skills.

Should struggling readers be held back?

The Gardner report also examines the impact of requiring students who do not meet minimum proficiency reading standards to remain in third grade, rather than be promoted to the next grade, to receive additional instruction.

Many states, including Mississippi, have incorporated third grade reading retention policies — and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is proposing his own retention policy to hold back more students who don’t read at grade level.

In recent years, Utah Legislature has implemented new teacher trainings and resources to achieve the goal of 70% of third graders reading on grade level. But reading scores haven’t budged, remaining around 48% in recent years.

This convinced Cox that the state should implement a retention policy that makes students repeat the third grade if they don’t pass a reading comprehension test.

“I know that’s kind of unpopular,” Cox told the Deseret News editorial board in December. “It turns out that that is a really important incentive, a motivator for parents and kids, and teachers and just everyone.”

Research on such test-based retention policies, according to the Gardner report, show that most retained students experience reading gains — though long-term outcomes are mixed.

The report adds that more recent evaluations occurred in states that provide extensive supports alongside retention. That makes disentanglement of reading retention and intensive interventions difficult.

“The strongest evidence suggests that the supports students receive when flagged for retention — not retention alone — primarily drive the improvement,” according to the report.

What else improves early literacy outcomes?

Nearly all children can learn to read if they have the benefit of “effective instruction and timely support,” the Gardner report concluded.

“Results typically emerge from a combination of coordinated strategies — high-quality early learning experiences, preparation and support for educators, evidence-aligned classroom instruction, and targeted interventions — and from the contributions of families, schools, and communities working together.”

Utah, the report added, has already taken key steps to strengthen the foundations of early literacy.

“As the state continues to implement its policies, the experiences of states that have significantly improved early reading outcomes highlight the importance of coherent systems and sustained implementation over time,” according to the report.