Recently, I worked with a group of elementary teachers in Iowa to select new reading textbooks and software. They wanted new materials to improve their district’s stagnant reading scores.
After several days of reviewing materials from a state-approved list, one of the teachers asked me, “Will any of these help my students learn to read?”
I said, “I think so, but I don’t know.”
The teacher looked disappointed. But my answer reflects a hard truth about what reading scholars like me understand about the best ways to teach people to read and boost their literacy. Although research suggests that elementary teachers should focus on helping students learn the sounds of speech, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies, there is little evidence on how well these skills are packaged into the textbooks used in classrooms.
I am a professor of special education at the University of Iowa and the former director of the Iowa Reading Research Center.
I help schools across the country adopt new textbooks and software to improve their students’ reading and writing. Currently, I’m working with colleagues on a review of how elementary school teachers use new reading textbooks to improve their students’ literacy skills.
There is a crowded marketplace of reading textbooks and software for schools to purchase, and it is often difficult to determine which one is better than the others. As a result, schools may end up purchasing new, expensive materials that do little to improve reading skills.
Will & Deni McIntyre/Corbis Documentary
Stalled reading progress
Many elementary school students, including those with reading disabilities such as dyslexia, struggle to learn to read.
On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a broad measure of reading development given to fourth grade students in every state, approximately 34% of students without disabilities and 72% of students with disabilities scored below basic levels. This means they displayed difficulty with multiple foundational reading skills and were reading below grade level.
The fact that many young students struggle to read at grade level is not a new problem. For the past 30 years, reading performance across the U.S. has remained largely unchanged.
Since 1992, the average NAEP reading score for fourth graders has varied by only a few points. In fact, NAEP scores for most students in fourth grade, the only elementary school grade measured by the NAEP, have declined since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2019, a total of 42 states, including California and Tennessee, have passed legislation intended to help students read better by training teachers to use evidence-based reading instruction. This means schools across the country are adopting new approaches to teach reading and using new textbooks.
For example, Louisiana in 2021 and Iowa in 2024 passed legislation that provided teachers with additional training, in addition to giving them state-approved reading textbooks that align with key areas of reading development, such as phonics and reading comprehension strategies.
As a result of these policies, reading scores are improving in some states. However, a substantial number of students across the country are still reading below grade level.
For example, Louisiana had a significant increase in fourth grade reading scores on the 2024 NAEP, rising from 55% of fourth grade students scoring basic or above in 2019 to 60% in 2024. However, 40% of fourth grade students still scored below basic, meaning they were reading below grade level.
Iowa had minimal increases in the reading proficiency of its students in 2024 statewide assessments, rising from 73% to 74% of sixth graders reading proficiently. Most elementary grades’ reading levels stayed the same from the prior year, with approximately 65% to 69% of students reading proficiently.
Despite this large number of students reading at grade level, nearly 70% of students with disabilities were reading below grade level in 2024.
To improve the scores of those still reading below grade level, new research that I and colleagues are doing is looking at the quality of reading textbooks promoted on state-approved lists.
New textbooks aren’t necessarily better
Reading textbooks play a pivotal role in how reading is taught. These textbooks have distinct daily lessons in which specific reading skills and content are taught, such as specific letter sounds or words. Textbooks not only include paper-based materials for students but also online apps and websites, as well as lesson plans for teachers.
There are a variety of textbook publishers and textbooks, and each textbook differs on what reading skills are taught and how often they are taught. For example, a recent review found textbooks differ drastically on the amount of time given for students to learn the sounds of speech. This time difference matters, as students’ reading performance suffered when too little or too much time was spent on learning the sounds of speech.
More than 36 states publish a list of approved reading textbooks, often referred to as high-quality instructional materials. States differ on which textbooks they consider to be of high quality, but they typically rely on the opinion of reading experts. Two popular nonprofit organizations that provide detailed reports on how reading experts rate textbooks include EdReports and The Reading League.
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A need for more research
Despite using expert opinion to determine quality, ineffective textbooks still make it onto state-approved lists. A 2025 study by the Tennessee Reading Research Center found mixed effects for teachers who used state-approved textbooks to teach reading. In the study, students with dyslexia improved their reading on some measures, but overall their reading remained significantly lower than their peers.
Once a state promotes a reading textbook as high quality, it is likely to remain a staple in schools. Most states do not have systems in place to monitor which reading textbooks are used in schools and their potential effects on student reading performance.
Once a school adopts a textbook, it is likely in place for years. Adopting a new one is a time-consuming and expensive process. It can take several years to train staff and several hundred thousand dollars to pay for materials and training.
I think that we ultimately need scholars who research how kids learn to read to closely collaborate with schools as they use new reading textbooks, and then measure whether student reading performance improves. This will help them determine which reading textbooks improve student reading scores. The results of this research can then be shared with other schools across the U.S. that are considering new textbooks. Schools could then make informed decisions on which textbooks to purchase.
Without this kind of research, states may promote ineffective textbooks and leave schools with a confusing choice on which textbooks to use.
