The renewed importance of picking up a book as literacy rates fall

Every day, students are seen trudging across campus with bags weighed down with textbooks. However the literary culture at UVM is one that seems to view reading as an obligation, not an enjoyable pastime. The benchmark literacy scores of Vermont’s fourth-and eighth-graders have significantly decreased compared to previous years, according to the 2024 statistics posted by the Nation’s Report Card. Vermont’s scores follow the downward slope of literacy levels seen across the nation in what scholars are calling a “literacy crisis.” This crisis is defined by a decline in leisurely reading, spikes in artificial intelligence usage and overall lower levels of reading comprehension, which have been getting progressively worse over the past decade, according to data from Regis College. In 2024, only 29% of Vermont eighth graders achieved reading proficiency. Among economically disadvantaged students, this rate dropped to just 17%, according to the State of Vermont Agency of Education.

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