?? STOP! You’re Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater—And It’s Destroying Literacy

?? What if I told you the literacy crisis isn’t about struggling readers?

It’s about a broken system that’s failing students and teachers—AND no one is talking about it.

It’s about bad policies disguised as "reform," teachers unprepared to fight systemic barriers, and a nation that keeps throwing the baby out with the bathwater, destroying literacy in the process.

?? But here’s the truth: We are making the same mistakes—again and again. And we wonder why reading scores are plummeting while kids sit in classrooms that aren’t designed for them to succeed.

??? SEEING THE SYSTEM FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS

In this article, I want you to see the real system.

We can’t do better if we aren’t seeing with lenses that are not clouded. We can’t teach with lenses that are not clouded. We can’t lead with lenses that are not clouded.

For months, I have been writing this article. I finally have it at a point that I can share.

?? When you read it, I want you to fight even harder for the children we see each day—children who MUST have a brighter future.

Because if we don’t change the system, we are choosing to let them fail.

?? THE LITERACY CRISIS BY THE NUMBERS

?? These numbers are NOT just statistics. They are real children. And they tell us the truth about the system we keep ignoring:

• Only 33% of fourth graders in the U.S. are reading proficiently (NAEP, 2022).
• Nearly 50% of new teachers quit within five years—burned out, overwhelmed, and never properly trained in how to teach reading (Ingersoll et al., 2021).
• Schools serving Black, Brown, and low-income students receive $23 billion LESS per year in funding (EdBuild, 2020).

So let’s stop pretending we don’t know why kids aren’t reading. ???? The system is the problem. ???? Teachers are thrown into classrooms unprepared. ???? Schools designed to fail are blamed when they do.

?? THE CHARTER SCHOOL & VOUCHER MYTH

If you think charters are the answer for all children, you are sadly mistaken.

?? 46% of charter schools perform no better than traditional public schools. They struggle with the same issues—underfunding, teacher shortages, and lack of support for struggling readers.

?? Meanwhile, vouchers are funneling public money into private schools, creating a system that benefits the privileged while leaving others behind.

?? So who will be left in traditional or charter schools? ?? Who gets to attend private schools with state-funded vouchers? ?? Are schools becoming resegregated—by race, class, and privilege?

We need to stop pretending that shifting students around is the answer to the literacy crisis. ???? Will moving students to private schools magically improve reading scores? ???? Will students actually reach proficiency, or are we just reshuffling the same broken system? ???? Who is really benefiting—students or the institutions collecting public money?

Public money should serve ALL children equitably, not create a tiered system where only the privileged get quality education.

?? THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. CAN YOU SEE IT?

?? Teachers, it’s not just you. The system wasn’t built for you to win.

?? Parents, it’s not just your child. The deck was stacked against them before they even started school.

?? Policymakers, it’s not just about throwing more money at the problem. It’s about fixing what’s broken instead of tearing it all down.

?? Instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, here’s what we NEED to do:

? Fund schools fairly. No more underfunding schools that serve kids who need the most support. ? Train teachers properly. Stop sending them into classrooms unarmed for battle against a failing system. ? Make literacy culturally relevant. Stop forcing kids to read things that don’t connect to their lives. ? Address systemic racism. Literacy is power. That’s why the system keeps denying it to so many.

? WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW:

?? Drop a comment if you’ve seen these issues firsthand. ?? Share this NOW—because if we don’t talk about it, NOTHING will change. ?? Tag a teacher, parent, or policymaker who needs to SEE THE SYSTEM.

?? Enough is enough. The literacy crisis is NOT an accident. It’s a choice. And we can choose to fix it.

?? Bibliography

• EdBuild. (2020). $23 Billion: Fixing the Funding Gap in Public Education. Retrieved from www.edbuild.org.
• Ingersoll, R., Merrill, L., Stuckey, D., & Collins, G. (2021). Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force—Updated October 2021. University of Pennsylvania, Consortium for Policy Research in Education.
• Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
• Lavert, G. & Bellencea, J. (2025). Who Says I Can't? (A Four-Year Plan to Erase the Reading Gap and Achieve Proficiency for Fourth Grade). Solution Tree Publishing.
• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). (2022). The Nation’s Report Card: Reading. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.
• Skiba, R. J., Arredondo, M. I., & Williams, N. T. (2022). The Discipline Gap and Disproportionality in Schools: Policy, Practice, and Prevention. Equity and Excellence in Education.