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The St. Louis NAACP is taking another step to improve literacy in local school districts – but this time it’s asking the federal government for help.
The branch filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on August 19 against 34 school districts in St. Louis city and county for disparities in reading skills among black students.
This is the second time the St. Louis NAACP has put a spotlight on student reading literacy. Earlier this year, the organization launched a campaign called “Right to Read,” which also focuses on improving reading scores among black students in city and county schools.
Adolphus Pruitt, the organization’s president, said federal officials would review the complaint and, if it falls within the office’s jurisdiction, launch an investigation to determine whether the argument is valid.
The complaint said the low reading proficiency of black students in St. Louis “underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions in the region’s schools.”
“Districts are facing one of the steepest post-pandemic surges, with significant learning losses that require immediate and sustained attention,” it said. “Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive approach that may include increased funding, innovative instructional strategies, enhanced support services, and community engagement to improve educational outcomes for the region’s students.”
If the complaint is valid, “the office would ask school districts to take specific actions to remedy the situation,” Pruitt said. “We are still in the very early stages of the process.”
By 2023, reading proficiency scores for all third-graders in Missouri were 42%, but only 21% for black third-graders, state data show.
In St. Louis Public Schools, one of the districts affected by the complaint, 14 percent of black third-graders scored proficient in reading on standardized tests, compared to 61 percent of their white peers. The school district did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The chapter is calling on community members to help promote student reading skills. At a press conference on August 20, representatives urged the public to support existing reading programs, create new initiatives and sacrifice personal time to participate in reading activities with children.
Pruitt said he has received mostly positive feedback from local nonprofits and educators since filing.
“They called and said, ‘We think you’re doing the right thing. We’re happy about that.’ Of course, we’ve also had comments from people saying we’re on the wrong track,” Pruitt said. “That’s especially true in some districts where the majority of people live white, even though their children – whether black or white – are performing poorly.”
In addition to the 34 districts, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is also named in the complaint. Pruitt said state education officials must be held accountable along with schools for poor reading scores.
“They’re the ones who make sure the districts perform,” he said. “It’s like if an employee does something they shouldn’t do and you have a supervisor controlling them – well, you have to look at management.”
The department has recently focused on improving literacy in a comprehensive plan called Missouri Read, Lead, Exceed, which aims to improve evidence-based literacy instruction — a part of reading science. The state also passed a literacy law last year that requires schools to create success plans for students with reading difficulties.
The St. Louis NAACP’s Right to Read program is designed to help close the gap between black students’ reading skills and the national average, with a focus on third grade, as studies have shown that one in six children who cannot read proficiently by that age will not graduate from high school on time.
Pruitt said that by 2030, the NAACP branch aims to provide all children in St. Louis city and county with the materials and support they need to help them become proficient readers by third grade. But he was aware that the Right to Read campaign would not achieve that goal without the help of the Office for Civil Rights.
“We just need to get more people to do certain things,” Pruitt said. “We (filed the complaint) because Right to Read – purely emotional and volunteer – is not going to work after we recognize the enormity of the problem.”
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