Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are more likely than white or Asian students to struggle with reading, and that gap emerges early, according to our new research.
During kindergarten, they are more likely to score in the bottom 10% on assessments that measure skills such as letter recognition, vocabulary, and sight word recognition. Large racial and ethnic differences in risks for reading difficulties continue as students progress through elementary school, a pattern that is largely explained by family income and early academic skills.
Our study, published online in November 2025 in the Journal of School Psychology, finds that about 15% of Black, Hispanic, and Native American kindergartners score in the lowest 10% of reading scores, compared to 6% and 8% of white and Asian students, respectively. By fifth grade, 18%, 16%, and 10% of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are struggling. The contrasting rate for white and Asian students is around 5%.
We analyzed data collected by the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics from 2010 to 2016. These data include direct academic assessments, as well as surveys of students and their parents, teachers, and school administrators.
We used standard statistical methods to explore how a wide range of factors in homes and schools, measured during kindergarten, helped explain whether students experienced reading difficulties later. A key factor, our analysis points out, is the family’s socioeconomic status: a measure that includes household income and parents’ education levels and occupations.
Kindergartners who had difficulty with early reading, math, and science skills, as well as more general learning skills such as working memory, were also at higher risk for reading difficulties during elementary school.
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Why is it important
The reading achievement of US elementary students has declined in recent years. The gap between the highest and lowest scoring readers is also increasing.
Supporting these children is important. Students who struggle with reading are more likely to experience anxiety and depression later in life. Adults with reading difficulties are also more likely to be incarcerated and unemployed. In one study, for example, about half of Texas prisoners were poor readers.
Because our findings suggest that Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are at higher risk for reading difficulties in kindergarten, students in these groups may have greater needs for early reading interventions that provide additional help with phonics, vocabulary, and reading fluency. Some of these students may also have unrecognized learning disabilities.
However, students of color are less likely to be identified with disabilities, including dyslexia, even when students experience early and significant reading difficulties.
What is not yet known
It is not well understood how economic and educational policies and practices can best help reduce the risks of reading difficulties. There is some evidence that cash transfers to families with financial difficulties can increase children’s later reading performance. Poverty is also associated with less exposure to age-appropriate books and other early literacy materials and fewer opportunities to acquire a broader vocabulary.
Our longitudinal research adds to the very limited understanding of the early economic, environmental, cognitive, academic, and behavioral factors that help shape elementary students’ reading skills. Most other studies focused on a single grade and examined a limited set of specific skills, such as how children process sounds, rather than multiple grades and a more general set of risk factors.
More research is needed to identify the full range of reasons why elementary students begin to struggle with reading and what can be done to better help them.
*Paul L. Morgan is director of the Institute for Social Equity and Health; Eric Hengyu Hu is a research scientist, both at the University at Albany.
This article was originally published on The Conversation
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