Which School Districts Do the Best Job of Teaching Kids to Read?

Aldeman: As poverty rises, reading proficiency tends to fall. But it’s not fate. See the districts in your state that are outperforming expectations.

According to the latest national results, low-income fourth graders read an average of two to three grade levels below their higher-income peers. 

It’s not new that students in poverty have lower scores on reading tests than more affluent students. Housing prices, parent perceptions and online school ranking websites all focus on those raw, unadjusted scores, which ignore the fact that some schools and districts simply have a harder job.