The reading achievement gap is actually an opportunity gap that AI can close.

Custom-built AI can ensure objectivity that learners value in evaluation and intervention.

Economical, scalable AI removes the dependency between expensive resources and student performance.

AI enables the individualization of general and special education.

During this Black History Month, let us attend for a moment to the reading achievement gap, as it affects all of us regardless of race. Here's why. Lack of literacy is linked to some of the biggest and costliest problems in society: spiralling special education spending, school dropouts, juvenile delinquency, incarceration, poverty, and mental health (NSBA, 2019; Vacca, 2008; Vacca, 2004; Nelson & Gregg, 2012). We all pay for these problems, at the very least in taxes.

We Spend Over $120 Billion Yearly on Special Education

Reading difficulty, or dyslexia, is classified as a learning disability in special education. Taking up about a third of special ed, dyslexia is the biggest category. As a nation, we spend over $120 billion a year on special ed (NCLD, 2023). The bulk of it comes from our local school taxes.

What is the yield on our yearly investment? Students with dyslexia still read below grade level. They drop out of high school at more than twice the typical rate (NSBA, 2019). Only 5 percent of them go to college, compared to 60 percent of their typical peers (Anthony, 2021). This impacts lifetime earnings, as their peers with college degrees earn about $1 million more than high school diploma holders.

70 Percent of Students Are Not Reading-Proficient

But the literacy problem is not confined to the 20 percent who have dyslexia (Yale Center for Dyslexia, 2022). According to the Nation's Report Card, around 70 percent of students now fail to meet reading standards in some states, including New York and Georgia. While approximately 40 percent of white readers are proficient, less than 20 percent of Black readers are (NCES, 2025).

The Literacy Link: Juvenile Delinquency and Incarceration

In the field of criminal justice, poor literacy skills are recognized factors of crime (Vacca, 2008). The Department of Justice associates juvenile delinquency with low reading ability (Brunner, 1993). African American youths are overrepresented in this system. Half of prison inmates cannot read or write. The National Institute for Literacy reports that nearly half of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty, most with no full- or part-time........

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