Solving the Reading Crisis—Take 2: The Case for Differentiated Assessment

Abstract

The responses to my initial article (A. G. Kamhi, 2007) have raised serious questions about whether embracing the narrow view of reading is the best way to reduce the persistently high levels of reading failure experienced in today's schools. This afterword provides another attempt to offer a solution to this problem without the distraction of the narrow view of reading. This second attempt to solve the reading crisis draws on the five responses in this clinical forum and other helpful comments from colleagues who responded to the initial article in The ASHA Leader. The way to eliminate high levels of reading failure is to differentiate word recognition from domain-general reading comprehension and specific subject knowledge in high-stakes assessments. This differentiation will focus attention on the true crisis in American education-knowledge deficiencies in the sciences, history, math, literature, and other subject areas that are important for success in the 21(st) century.