<description>&lt;p&gt;Are we in the midst of a reading crisis? News outlets are constantly reporting on &lt;a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/10/education-decline-low-expectations/684526/"&gt;the death of reading&lt;/a&gt;. School test scores by measures like the &amp;ldquo;Nation&amp;rsquo;s Report Card&amp;rdquo; say math and literacy levels are down to their lowest rates since the early 1990s. &lt;a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/us/high-school-english-teachers-assigning-books.html"&gt;Schools aren&amp;rsquo;t even assigning full books&lt;/a&gt; in class anymore. We talk to children&amp;rsquo;s book author Jason Reynolds, an active teacher in Chicago public schools, and a professor who&amp;rsquo;s looked into the actual research and says &lt;a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/28/naep-reading-crisis-test-scores/"&gt;the literacy crisis doesn&amp;rsquo;t even exist&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Our guests this week are author&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.jasonwritesbooks.com/"&gt;Jason Reynolds&lt;/a&gt; (buy his new book Soundtrack &lt;a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/747031/soundtrack-a-novel-by-jason-reynolds/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;), professor &lt;a href="https://paulthomas701128.substack.com/"&gt;Paul Thomas&lt;/a&gt;, and teacher &lt;a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@stillateacher"&gt;Kelsey Clodfelter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;For links to research and more, check out our&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/mannynoahdevan/p/debunking-the-reading-crisis-jason-reynolds?r=j003&amp;amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;amp;utm_medium=web&amp;amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true"&gt;newsletter&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you liked this episode, check out: &lt;a href="https://pod.link/1780210954/episode/Njc0M2I1Njc2MWVmMWU2NjNmNzM1NDBj"&gt;Do audiobooks count as reading?&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://pod.link/1780210954/episode/NjdiYmFkZWJjNjY1NjM4ZDQ3ZjAyZThm"&gt;Should schools ban phones?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="mailto:mannynoahdevan@gmail.com"&gt;mannynoahdevan@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt; or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;EXCLUSIVE&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;NordVPN&lt;/strong&gt; Deal ➼ &lt;a href="http://www.nordvpn.com/nst"&gt;http://www.nordvpn.com/nst&lt;/a&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

NO SUCH THING

iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope

Kids can’t read anymore. Does it matter? (with author Jason Reynolds)

APR 15, 202659 MIN
NO SUCH THING

Kids can’t read anymore. Does it matter? (with author Jason Reynolds)

APR 15, 202659 MIN

Description

Are we in the midst of a reading crisis? News outlets are constantly reporting on the death of reading. School test scores by measures like the “Nation’s Report Card” say math and literacy levels are down to their lowest rates since the early 1990s. Schools aren’t even assigning full books in class anymore. We talk to children’s book author Jason Reynolds, an active teacher in Chicago public schools, and a professor who’s looked into the actual research and says the literacy crisis doesn’t even exist.  Our guests this week are author Jason Reynolds (buy his new book Soundtrack here), professor Paul Thomas, and teacher Kelsey Clodfelter. For links to research and more, check out our newsletter.  If you liked this episode, check out: Do audiobooks count as reading? and Should schools ban phones?  Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286 EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ http://www.nordvpn.com/nst   Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guaranteeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.