Dear Grant

I am writing on behalf of the late H.G. Heath, founder of the Lake City High School, and Principle of the entire school for 35 years. [ 1903-1938] The Heaths send our family’s congratulations to LCCS Board President Virden, LCCS Superintendent Hall, her team & all the students regarding the Hinsdale County School District being awarded, by the Co. Dept. of Education, an “Accredited with Distinction” rating for 2024.
We also salute the contribution two other entities have made toward achieving this award: The first class Wagner Library with Elaine Gray at the helm & the summer reading program led by Erin Cavit & the many reading volunteers assisting her. Both are community treasures.
This prestigious rating shines extraordinarily bright in the midst of recent dark news about our Nation’s 4th and 8th grade students. On Jan. 29, 2025, the 2024 NAEP testing scores were released. When they were aggregated at the National level, only 31% of the 4th graders & 30% of the 8th graders scored at or above the reading proficiency standard for those levels.
Forty nine states, regardless of their updated policies or instructional mandates, had lower scores than in 2019 when the test was last administered. The NAEP report gives no explanation as to the why of these distressing results. It wasn’t from lack of funding. The federal govt. gave school districts across the nation $190 Billion to aide in recovering from learning loss during the pandemic.
How can this dismal setback in reading proficiency be corrected? The Vice Chair of the National Assessment Board has explained “There’s nothing in the science of learning that would lead us to expect students to learn at a faster rate after they’ve experienced disruption or setbacks. Absent a massive effort, society wide, to address the challenge of restoring reading proficiency, we should not expect more positive results.” The larger the school the bigger the challenge to find the time during the school day & the qualified reading tutors needed to assist larger groups of students in need of help.
The reading crisis has been increasing since 2013. One area where it is now showing up in our society is in the struggle that the all volunteer military is having meeting its recruiting quotas. It has now been determined that 77% of the youth in the target age range, 17-24 years, cannot meet the minimum qualification standards needed to enlist. One of the top three reasons for this failing is the inability of the applicant to read well enough to successfully complete the AFQT written test. The U.S. Navy is now so short of sailor recruits it has waived the need for high school graduation or a GED if the applicant can successfully score to at least the 50th percentile on the test.
Our elementary school has been blessed with effective teachers in grades 1st-3rd which is where foundational reading skills are built. We are thankful for the classroom success of Lori Frech [ now retired ] & Lily Virden. This award would not be possible without the competency of those teachers.
During the recent election, you would be hard pressed to find any candidate making an issue of the nationwide failure of our schools to meet minimum reading proficiency levels. Our newly elected President’s slogan was MAGA..Make America Great Again. To achieve that, I would counsel him to first MALA..Make America Literate Again. There is a much better chance to MAGA after doing that.

_{Well deserved congratulations to the entire
Fourteeners “Strong” family
Bruce Heath on behalf of the
Heath/Harmon families}