Alabama’s improvement in reading has been getting a lot of national attention lately. A new report examines how the state went from last in the nation in fourth-grade reading in 2019 to nearly matching the national average five years later.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s 40-plus-page report traces nearly three decades of Alabama’s literacy efforts, from early successes and setbacks to the changes that followed passage of the Alabama Literacy Act in 2019.
It offers both a history lesson and a look at what educators are doing differently today.
There’s much more in the report than can be covered here, but these five findings are a good place to start.
Making gains while much of country struggles
Alabama was one of just two states, along with Louisiana, where fourth-grade reading scores actually improved between 2019 and 2024 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation’s Report Card.
Alabama third graders, who were reading about six-tenths of a grade level below the national average in 2019, were slightly above it by 2025, according to an analysis of state test scores.
The report doesn’t claim any one policy caused those gains. Instead, it points to several changes that appear to have helped.
Reading coaches making a difference?
Alabama has about 750 reading specialists working in elementary schools, backed up by nearly 100 regional specialists and a small state team.
Their job is to help teachers teach reading. And under the Alabama Literacy Act, schools can’t pull them away to substitute teach, handle administrative work or take on other unrelated duties.
That’s important because Alabama tried a different approach before, and it didn’t work out so well.
“It’s people, not programs, that are going to make a difference in the life of a kid,” Alabama Reading Initiative director Bonnie Short told Liana Loewus, the report’s author.
We’ve been here before
The Alabama Reading Initiative, launched in 1998, helped the state make substantial progress in the 2000s.
Alabama’s fourth graders roughly matched the national average on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2011, scoring 220 compared with the national average of 221. It was a peak Alabama students have not yet reached again, but an important achievement that showed educators how far students could go.
But in 2012, the state expanded reading coaches’ responsibilities beyond the early grades. Funding also declined, and Alabama’s reading scores began falling again.
As reading scores declined, Alabama officials began looking to neighboring Mississippi, where students were making substantial gains.
A tweet from July 2018 offers a glimpse of that effort, showing Alabama education officials learning from their Mississippi counterparts.
By 2019, Alabama ranked last nationally in fourth-grade reading.
The Alabama Literacy Act renewed the state’s focus on teaching young children to read. Lawmakers also poured more money into the effort.
Funding for the Alabama Reading Initiative has climbed to $152 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year, compared with $40.7 million in 2018.
Opportunity in high-poverty schools
The report takes a closer look at two districts where students have made notable gains.
In Birmingham, where 85% of students are economically disadvantaged, reading and math scores have improved substantially since 2023.
The district has offered extra learning time through voluntary intersessions and made a big push to get students to school more regularly. Chronic absenteeism, which also negatively impacts learning, fell from 29% in 2021-22 to 13% in 2024-25.
In rural Butler County, third-grade reading scores generally trailed the state average by one to 1.5 grade levels for years. Since 2023, however, students have been performing at levels comparable to state and national averages.
Teachers there are paying closer attention to exactly which reading skills individual students need help with and grouping students accordingly.
Both districts are using the state’s reading initiatives while finding their own ways to address local challenges.
Keeping foot on the gas
The report credits consistent leadership and funding with helping Alabama sustain its recent progress.
But changes are coming. Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, who sponsored the Literacy Act, is retiring. Gov. Kay Ivey leaves office in January. And state Superintendent Eric Mackey has already served longer than most of his counterparts around the country.
The concern is whether Alabama’s commitment to improving reading will continue as those leaders move on.
“We do become complacent sometimes, and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen,” literacy advocate Sonya Yates told the report’s author. “I don’t see that in Alabama right now. I see them still going full force ahead.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by the Alabama Daily News.
Share with others: