The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative and continuous assessment of what students throughout the United States know and can perform in specific subjects. NAEP is one of several tools guiding state and federal lawmakers as they draft legislation and craft strategies for educational improvement. This assessment, delivered every two years, was delayed in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning this assessment now gives policymakers, education leaders, and other concerned stakeholders a sense of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted student achievement.
In October, the latest NAEP results were released. Fourth-grade reading averages are lower than all previous assessment years going back to 2005, and the 2022 average mirrors the 1992 average. Eighth-grade reading averages are the lowest the nation has seen since 1998, and not significantly different compared to 1992. Importantly, the years between 1992 and 2022 show little variance in reading proficiency, and inequities in reading proficiency persist. Policymakers and education leaders are responding by investing in research-backed solutions, like diversifying the teacher workforce, implementing the science of reading, and increasing access to high-dosage tutoring. These investments have and will continue to prove effective, but education policy leaders and practitioners should not be the only parties responsible for this task. Health law and policy leaders should also prioritize improving literacy rates as there is a direct relationship between literacy and health outcomes.
Literacy proficiency is critical to success, both in the classroom and later in life. Additionally, literacy and health are closely connected. Limited literacy is a barrier to accessing health information, proper medication use, and utilization of preventative services. In terms of medication, medication management capacity (MMC) is critical for identifying medications and understanding how they should be taken. MMC is critical for patients dealing with temporary and chronic ailments and diseases. Research confirms the significant association between low literacy and difficulty identifying medications. One example connecting literacy and MMC pertains to the use of asthma treatment. Determining the relationship between literacy and asthma knowledge and self-care, researchers found that eighty-nine percent of patients reading at less than a third-grade level had difficulty using a meter-dosed inhaler (MDI) properly. In contrast, just less than half of patients reading at a high-school level struggled using an MDI. Research also confirms that patients with low literacy skills are more likely to ask fewer questions about their medical care, which may affect their ability to learn about their medical conditions and treatments.
Reading and health outcomes go hand in hand. Investing in literacy is a key strategy for ensuring stronger health outcomes in the long term, and healthcare practitioners are pushing for the healthcare field to increase involvement in literacy. In Ohio, healthcare leaders speak about the continued difficulties patients face in understanding the condition of their health due to limited literacy, and those leaders are making investments to eliminate the barriers low literacy creates in healthcare. Kettering Health, a healthcare non-profit, invested $60,000 to start an Imagination Library Program in Green County, Ohio. Kettering’s involvement in early literacy sets an example for other states to follow and exemplifies the role health law and policy leaders can play in ensuring better patient outcomes.
A patient’s ability to make critical healthcare decisions rests on reading proficiently. Healthcare law and policy leaders should pay close attention to what NAEP reveals about the state of literacy, partner with state and local education leaders to craft early literacy strategies and convince lawmakers to prioritize early literacy investment. Literacy is a key vehicle for health equity. If healthcare leaders do not respond quickly to last month’s NAEP results, barriers to accessing health information and proper care will persist.