Illiteracy in Eugene should be treated as a community emergency — one that warrants an all-hands-on-deck response, not a collective sigh, finger-pointing or waiting for the next edict from the Oregon Department of Education.

We cannot afford to rest on our laurels because the recent testing data shows modest improvement. Eugene’s reading scores remain below prepandemic levels.

Consider the urgency: Almost 52% of Eugene School District 4J third graders who participated in the state English Language Arts assessment were not proficient in 2025-26, with about 84% of students participating in the assessment. These are our children, our neighbors, our students — the kids we see at the library, on the bus, at the park and in our classrooms.

Why third grade? Reading proficiency by the end of third grade is an important predictor of later academic outcomes, and research shows that children who struggle with reading in the early grades are at substantial risk of falling further behind their peers. Early intervention matters, too. Research has found better outcomes when effective interventions begin in kindergarten and first grade rather than waiting until difficulties become entrenched by third.

What is the plan to provide intensive and effective intervention for the 50% of third graders who are not yet proficient readers? Will we pass them along to middle school and wish them the best? We should not respond by assigning blame — to parents, teachers, schools, the state or ultimately children themselves. Many factors affect literacy. But a community committed to its children cannot allow those factors to become excuses for accepting persistently low outcomes.

A child’s chances of learning to read should not depend on luck in our progressive, well-educated town. Yet access to effective support here can depend entirely on whether an adult recognizes warning signs early, whether a teacher has the training and resources to respond, whether a family can afford private tutoring or whether a student receives appropriate support through an individualized education program, known as an IEP.

None of this needs to be left to chance. Decades of research have identified effective components of reading instruction, including systematic instruction in foundational reading skills. Oregon itself requires universal screening for dyslexia risk factors and requires at least one trained teacher in every K-5 school to understand dyslexia, use evidence-based foundational-skills instruction and intensify instruction for students with severe reading difficulties.

The current approach is rather patchwork and by definition failing our students. Doing what we can, where we can, is not enough. So, what do we do? We stop treating literacy as somebody else’s problem.

We can:

  • Prepare teachers well. Ask local teacher-preparation programs to ensure new teachers graduate with evidence-based knowledge and practical skills for teaching reading effectively from day one, including recognizing early warning signs of reading disability.
  • Support the teachers already in our classrooms. Provide sustained professional learning, coaching and mentoring. Research has found positive effects when teachers receive professional development that enables them to provide individualized, evidence-based reading instruction.
  • Intervene early. Ensure students showing signs of dyslexia or other reading difficulties receive appropriate instructional support based on screening and progress-monitoring data, rather than waiting for a formal diagnosis. Oregon’s framework explicitly calls for early screening, evidence-based intervention and progress monitoring.
  • Use data starting in kindergarten. Identify and support struggling readers early, rather than waiting until difficulties become entrenched. Oregon already recognizes universal screening and early intervention as essential components of its literacy approach.
  • Raise expectations while providing support. Parents, principals, and teachers should work together to build a culture where low expectations are never mistaken for equity.
  • Make resources accessible. Help families understand effective reading practice and ensure literacy resources are available regardless of income, language or circumstance.
  • Keep investing in community literacy. Our public library and community literacy organizations give children access to books they actually want to read from the beginning of life. Keep it up, Eugene!

We should celebrate progress where it exists without confusing incremental improvement with success. Eugene 4J’s latest results improved, but the improvement was modest, and the assessment’s participation rate is an important consideration when interpreting the results.

Our community standard should not be:

“Are we doing a little better than last year?”

It should be:

“Are all our children learning to read — and are we doing everything within our power right now to make sure they do?”

Every child deserves the opportunity to become a confident reader. Every family deserves to know that their child will receive effective reading instruction at school, without needing to pay for outside tutors, regardless of where they attend. Every teacher deserves the training, materials, coaching and support necessary to provide that instruction. And every Eugene child deserves to live in a community that refuses to accept low literacy as the status quo.

The question is whether we, as a community, have the true resolve to protect the right to learn to read.

Jess Roshak is a parent, community literacy advocate and private reading interventionist. She runs Eugene Springfield Dyslexia Learning Services. She can be reached at info@eugenedyslexia.com.