Average reading scores for U.S. high school seniors have dropped to their lowest levels since 1992. This 10-point decline from the 1992 benchmark indicates a significant, long-term trend in reduced literacy skills, accelerated by, but pre-dating, the pandemic.
“I don’t think we have smoking gun evidence that the rise of screen-based childhood is a direct contributor to the literacy trends that we’re seeing. But I’m willing to put it very high on my list of potential suspects.” – Martin West, academic dean and a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the deputy director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School.
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/