From last place to nearly average: What a new report says about Alabama’s reading gains
Alabama’s improvement in reading has been getting a lot of national attention lately. A new report examines how the state went from last in the nation in fourth-grade reading in 2019 to nearly matching the national average five years later.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s 40-plus-page report traces nearly three decades of Alabama’s literacy efforts, from early successes and setbacks to the changes that followed passage of the Alabama Literacy Act in 2019.
It offers both a history lesson and a look at what educators are doing differently today.
There’s much more in the report than can be covered here, but these five findings are a good place to start.
Alabama is making gains while much of the country struggles
Alabama was one of just two states, along with Louisiana, where fourth-grade reading scores actually improved between 2019 and 2024 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation’s Report Card.
Alabama third graders, who were reading about six-tenths of a grade level below the national average in 2019, were slightly above it by 2025, according to an analysis of state test scores.
The report doesn’t claim any one policy caused those gains. Instead, it points to several changes that appear to have helped.
