The Reading Crisis: Why Poor Children Fall Behind

What is new/important here? This book revisits the problem of the "fourth-grade slump" in reading achievement. This lack of success with the more complex reading demands of the later elementry years is usually overcome by children whose homes provide encouragement, enrichment, and homework assistance. Poorer children usually do not recieve these benefits and fall furthur behind each year. What can be done? The authors suggest that schools pay chose attention to the changing instructional requirements in the late elementry years and provide all students with specific assistance to insure their transition into more complex reading. Close monitoring of each student's progress helps identify students needing extra assistance. The authors feel optimistic in the school program's ability to overcome these problems, but admit that they may be costly. But how can we as a society affort to not teach children to read?