Author’s Thoughts and Opinions

Reading Scores Have Declined to Early 1990s Levels Three Decades of Educational Progress Erased “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin The Crisis Reading scores have declined to Early 1990s levels. Students today score approximately where students scored in 1992. Three decades of educational…

2024 = Lowest 12th Grade Reading Scores Ever Reported The Crisis: The 2024 average 12th grade reading scores represent the LOWEST EVER REPORTED in the entire 32-year history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This isn’t a continuation of decline. This is the worst performance on record. Current high school seniors are the least-prepared…

The Average 8th Grader Scores 258 Out of 500 Points on National Reading Tests The Crisis: The average 8th grader scores 258 out of 500 points on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test. The proficiency threshold is 281 points. That means the average middle school student still falls 23 points short of…

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt Go to Hollywood and everyone you meet has written a great script, so that goes to show you fantastic story ideas are a dime a dozen, but not anything that should concern you. When two or more writers tackle the…

Understanding the Average Score Crisis in American Elementary Education By J. W. Zarek, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss This is Week 9 of my 64-week literacy crisis campaign. Every Friday, I…

The College Readiness Crisis Reaches a Critical Point By J. W. Zarek, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Published December 26, 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.” – Kofi Annan ___________________________________________________________________ This is Week 8 of my 64-week literacy crisis campaign. Every Friday, I share one statistic about America’s reading emergency, paired…

The Middle School Proficiency Decline Continues By J. W. Zarek, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Published December 20, 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” – Mark Twain ___________________________________________________________________ This is Week 7 of my 64-week literacy crisis campaign. Every Friday, I share one statistic…

1,000+ Russian & Polish Words for Slavic Folklore Mastery ___________________________________________________________________ Words 1-10 of 1,000 | Week 1 ___________________________________________________________________ Learning Russian & Polish: My First Ten Words December 15, 2025 – Journey to Folklore Mastery ___________________________________________________________________ Caption: Russian and Polish flags representing the two Slavic languages in my learning journey. ___________________________________________________________________ “If you talk to a…

The Literacy Crisis Campaign: Understanding America’s Reading Emergency Through Data A 64-Week Journey Through the Numbers That Matter By J. W. Zarek, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglas Every Friday since November 15, 2025, I’ve been sharing a single statistic about America’s literacy…

By J. W. Zarek, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Figure 1 – Teacher Crisis – Too Many Empty Teacher’s Desks “The pandemic has revealed that the only reason the education system isn’t crumbling down is that teachers and school staff are holding it together. We had the same impossible expectations as previous years, but then…