From Phonics to AI: The Literacy Crisis We’re Overlooking

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As the cofounder of The Policy Circle, I’ve convened roundtables around the country — with educators, parents, business leaders, and women from all walks of life — to explore what truly prepares someone to thrive.

One word keeps coming up: literacy.

Not just the ability to read, but the ability to understand, reason, and participate confidently in the world. Literacy is far more than decoding words; it’s the foundation of civic engagement, economic mobility, and personal independence.

Early Literacy: Learning to Read

The first four years of school shape everything that follows. This is when children learn to read — or start to fall behind. The science of reading gives us a clear roadmap: structured phonics, decoding, and language comprehension.

Yet many districts still lag behind. A national survey found that only 28% of educators said their training “significantly included” the science of reading — meaning most teachers enter classrooms without the tools to teach reading effectively. Schools of education also too often neglect evidence-based methods, leaving new teachers unprepared to identify and support struggling readers.

Furthermore, early identification of dyslexia — which affects an estimated 5–10% of the population — remains inconsistent. When diagnosed early, children can develop strategies to overcome dyslexia and build confidence. But too often, those struggles go unnoticed until reading gaps become entrenched.

The ExcelinEd Early Literacy Policy Playbook underscores that “early literacy success begins with prevention, not remediation.” As Dr. Kymyona Burk, Senior Policy Fellow at ExcelinEd, has emphasized, the key is equipping teachers with the knowledge to recognize reading challenges and intervene before failure occurs — through structured instruction, universal screening, and targeted, one-on-one support.

Knowledge Literacy: Reading to Learn

By fourth grade, students are expected to read to learn. Comprehension now depends on what they already know — their vocabulary, background knowledge, and ability to connect ideas.

It’s hard to make sense of a text about baseball if you don’t know what a home run is. The same applies to history, civics, and science. Without a knowledge-rich curriculum that builds sequential understanding, students can read words fluently yet fail to grasp meaning.

As E. D. Hirsch Jr. argues in How to Educate a Citizen, “children (and adults) gain new knowledge only by augmenting what they already know.” Knowledge, he explains, is the scaffolding on which comprehension rests. When students lack shared background knowledge — of the world, of culture, of civic life — they are excluded from deeper learning and, ultimately, from citizenship itself.

This gap quietly erodes confidence and curiosity. It’s why so many students lose interest in learning — not because they don’t care, but because comprehension without context is exhausting.

Functional Literacy: Reading for Life

By high school, literacy becomes the measure of independence. The numbers are sobering: according to the 2024 Nation’s Report Card, the average reading score for 12th graders fell to 285 out of 500 — a three-point drop from 2019 and the lowest level ever recorded, with only 35% of students reading at or above proficiency.

Illiteracy is not just an education issue — it’s a societal one. Research indicates that over 70% of incarcerated adults in the U.S. cannot read above a fourth-grade level (Governors Foundation for Early Literacy). That means seven in ten people behind bars entered adulthood unable to navigate the basic literacy demands of life — from filling out a job application to reading a legal notice.

Functional literacy extends beyond reading. It is the ability to understand a medical form, a legal contract, interpret a financial statement, or evaluate a policy proposal. It is both financial and civic literacy — the skill to manage personal decisions and engage in public life with confidence. Without these skills, people are left vulnerable in systems built for those who can comprehend complex information.

Literacy, in this sense, is the bedrock of freedom.

Literacy in the Age of AI

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we learn, work, and process information. It can personalize instruction, detect learning gaps early, and offer new tools to support teachers. But it also raises the stakes for human comprehension.

As The Policy Circle’s AI, Education & Literacy brief explores, digital literacy now means understanding how technology shapes what we see and believe. Algorithms curate our information diet. Chatbots summarize what we read. When machines generate and filter knowledge for us, discernment — the ability to question, compare, and think critically — becomes the new frontier of literacy.

AI can assist, but it cannot replace the uniquely human ability to reason. In a world where technology is rewriting the act of reading itself, the ability to read wisely has never mattered more.

I’ve come to see literacy as the quiet force behind every other measure of progress. It opens doors to confidence, curiosity, and citizenship. Without it, opportunity narrows and anxiety fills the gap.

This isn’t just about reforming education; it’s about ensuring that every person — from a first-grader learning phonics to an adult deciphering a contract — can fully participate in the world around them.

Further Reading:

• The Policy Circle: Literacy Brief

• AI, Education & Literacy in the Age of Choice and Career Paths

• Financial Literacy Brief

• ExcelinEd Early Literacy Playbook

• Core Knowledge Foundation: E.D. Hirsch Jr.

Sylvie Légère is a co-founder of The Policy Circle, an entrepreneur, the author of Trust Your Voice: A Roadmap to Focus and Influence, and the host of the podcast Trust Your Voice.

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