To the editor:

According to the New York Times, the new digital SAT will reduce reading sections from page-long text (followed by 8-11 questions) to short passages followed by one question. Why are we dumbing down the SAT format to accommodate those with poor reading comprehension, instead of rising to the necessity of reforming the way we teach kids to read?

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Education determined that 54% of U.S. adults between 16-74 (130 million people) read below the sixth grade level. That fact will either surprise you or not — in a world where some think that reading isn’t really necessary because “you can get all the information you need by listening.” (Only true until a person is required to read directions, decipher label warnings or vote with factual knowledge of the issues instead of what they heard their friends or TV commentators say.)

We needn’t debate that the Founding Fathers understood that reading was key to a stable democracy and a better quality of life. So thanks to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed 2.4% education budget increase, a back-to-basics reading emphasis could be launched in New York schools. Funding includes money to help train 20,000 teachers in the science of teaching reading. (Yes, it’s a science based on knowledge of developmental skills and mental preparation. Telling kids to read isn’t the same as teaching kids to read.)

Every citizen should be capable of reading the 200-page 2024-25 New York state budget proposal on www.nysenate.gov for themselves. Every voter should be able to discuss both sides of an issue after reading historical context and objective reporting. Every community member should be grateful to be able to sit down and read a locally-published newspaper.

That’s why we need improved techniques for teaching reading at the elementary level. And the SAT should require the highest level of reading comprehension.

Martha Hodges

Syracuse University MS in teaching reading

Massena