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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of 4th-graders with reading skills at or above the proficient level — AH‑05 Data

This objective is a Leading Health Indicator (LHI). Learn about LHIs.

National Status: Getting worse

  
Learn more about our data release schedule

Most Recent Data:
31.1 percent (2024)

National Target:
41.5 percent

Desired Direction:
Increase desired

National Baseline:
36.6 percent of 4th grade students attending public and private schools had reading skills at or above the proficient achievement level for their grade in 2017

Disparities data are only available for some selections.

View CI in the chart by hovering over a data point.

View SE in the chart by hovering over a data point.

Confidence Interval (CI) not available Standard Error (SE) not available Confidence Interval (CI) and Standard Error (SE) are not available

Display data for:

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Total
36.6
CI 35.9 / 37.2
SE 0.307
35.3
CI 34.8 / 35.9
SE 0.274
33.3
CI 32.5 / 34.0
SE 0.394
31.1
CI 30.4 / 31.9
SE 0.380

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Sex, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Male
34.3
CI 33.6 / 35.1
SE 0.380
32.4
CI 31.6 / 33.2
SE 0.383
31.3
CI 30.3 / 32.2
SE 0.500
28.0
CI 27.1 / 29.0
SE 0.474
Female
38.8
CI 38.1 / 39.6
SE 0.370
38.4
CI 37.8 / 39.1
SE 0.325
35.3
CI 34.3 / 36.3
SE 0.530
34.4
CI 33.5 / 35.3
SE 0.451

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Race/Ethnicity, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Hispanic or Latino
22.6
CI 21.7 / 23.5
SE 0.459
23.0
CI 22.1 / 23.9
SE 0.448
21.3
CI 20.0 / 22.5
SE 0.644
20.5
CI 19.2 / 22.0
SE 0.690
Not Hispanic or Latino
DNA
DNA
DNA
DNA
American Indian or Alaska Native only, not Hispanic or Latino
20.1
CI 16.6 / 24.2
SE 1.875
19.5
CI 16.3 / 23.2
SE 1.658
17.8
CI 13.7 / 22.0
SE 2.128
13.9
CI 9.8 / 19.4
SE 2.164
Asian only, not Hispanic or Latino
58.7
CI 55.8 / 61.6
SE 1.450
56.7
CI 53.9 / 59.6
SE 1.410
58.2
CI 54.7 / 61.8
SE 1.814
53.0
CI 49.6 / 56.5
SE 1.670
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander only, not Hispanic or Latino
26.8
CI 20.3 / 34.5
SE 3.461
24.6
CI 17.7 / 33.1
SE 3.830
22.8
CI 16.1 / 29.5
SE 3.402
21.6
CI 12.7 / 34.1
SE 4.867
Black or African American only, not Hispanic or Latino
19.9
CI 18.8 / 21.0
SE 0.547
18.1
CI 17.2 / 19.1
SE 0.486
16.7
CI 15.5 / 18.0
SE 0.642
16.9
CI 15.6 / 18.3
SE 0.661
White only, not Hispanic or Latino
46.8
CI 45.9 / 47.6
SE 0.425
45.3
CI 44.5 / 46.1
SE 0.382
41.8
CI 40.8 / 42.8
SE 0.508
39.4
CI 38.4 / 40.5
SE 0.520
2 or more races, not Hispanic or Latino
41.7
CI 39.2 / 44.3
SE 1.277
40.3
CI 37.9 / 42.9
SE 1.258
38.1
CI 35.1 / 41.0
SE 1.502
35.1
CI 32.9 / 37.4
SE 1.127

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Family income, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Family income
DNC
DNC
DNC
DNC

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Health insurance status, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Health insurance status
DNC
DNC
DNC
DNC

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Geographic location, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Geographic location
DNC
DNC
DNC
DNC

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Country of birth, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Country of birth
DNC
DNC
DNC
DNC

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Disability status, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
People with disabilities
12.4
CI 11.7 / 13.2
SE 0.356
11.8
CI 11.0 / 12.8
SE 0.453
10.9
CI 10.0 / 11.9
SE 0.489
10.2
CI 9.4 / 11.1
SE 0.444
People without disabilities
40.1
CI 39.4 / 40.7
SE 0.334
39.1
CI 38.4 / 39.7
SE 0.312
37.0
CI 36.2 / 37.9
SE 0.444
34.9
CI 34.1 / 35.8
SE 0.417

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by School type, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Public
35.4
CI 34.9 / 36.0
SE 0.279
34.3
CI 33.8 / 34.9
SE 0.263
DSU
DSU
Not a charter school
36.6
CI 35.9 / 37.2
SE 0.318
35.6
CI 35.0 / 36.2
SE 0.293
33.5
CI 32.7 / 34.3
SE 0.411
31.3
CI 30.5 / 32.1
SE 0.393
Charter school
36.0
CI 32.4 / 39.8
SE 1.819
30.7
CI 28.5 / 33.1
SE 1.154
29.6
CI 26.4 / 32.8
SE 1.644
29.1
CI 25.7 / 32.9
SE 1.799
Private
DSU
DSU
DSU
DSU

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by School lunch program eligibility, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Eligible
21.8
CI 21.2 / 22.5
SE 0.312
21.2
CI 20.6 / 21.9
SE 0.321
19.3
CI 18.4 / 20.2
SE 0.469
DSU
Not eligible
51.6
CI 50.8 / 52.5
SE 0.441
50.5
CI 49.6 / 51.4
SE 0.433
46.4
CI 45.3 / 47.5
SE 0.553
DSU

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by Type of community where school located, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
City
31.7
CI 30.6 / 32.9
SE 0.575
31.2
CI 30.1 / 32.3
SE 0.540
30.3
CI 28.8 / 31.9
SE 0.775
28.3
CI 26.8 / 29.9
SE 0.770
Suburb
42.3
CI 41.3 / 43.4
SE 0.510
40.6
CI 39.6 / 41.6
SE 0.491
37.4
CI 36.0 / 38.8
SE 0.693
34.3
CI 33.1 / 35.5
SE 0.607
Town
30.5
CI 28.9 / 32.2
SE 0.808
30.4
CI 28.9 / 32.0
SE 0.774
27.1
CI 24.8 / 29.4
SE 1.177
28.1
CI 25.9 / 30.4
SE 1.098
Rural
35.5
CI 34.0 / 37.1
SE 0.765
33.5
CI 32.2 / 35.0
SE 0.689
32.6
CI 30.9 / 34.3
SE 0.879
30.5
CI 28.9 / 32.1
SE 0.792

Fourth graders whose reading skills are at or above grade level by English language learner, 2017-2024
(percent)
Increase desired

Population 2017 2019 2022 2024
Yes
8.8
CI 7.6 / 10.2
SE 0.654
9.6
CI 8.5 / 10.7
SE 0.543
10.3
CI 8.8 / 11.8
SE 0.754
7.8
CI 6.7 / 9.0
SE 0.576
No
39.9
CI 39.2 / 40.7
SE 0.356
38.8
CI 38.2 / 39.4
SE 0.296
36.7
CI 35.9 / 37.5
SE 0.410
34.5
CI 33.7 / 35.4
SE 0.411

Disparity