Corey Brooks Opens Chicago School After 23% of 4th Graders Reach Reading Proficiency
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 27
Corey Brooks Opens Chicago School After 23% of 4th Graders Reach Reading Proficiency
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 27
Summary
Corey Brooks said he is opening a new school with the Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center to tackle Chicago’s literacy crisis through phonics-based instruction and parent involvement.
Only 23% of Chicago fourth graders scored proficient or better in reading on the 2024 NAEP, while 53% scored below basic; by eighth grade, proficiency rose just 4 points to 27%.
Brooks argued structured literacy and daily reading at home can reverse those outcomes, pointing to Mississippi’s rise in education rankings under reading reforms centered on the science of reading.
He cast weak literacy as a driver of poverty and limited opportunity on Chicago’s South Side, saying the school aims to make academic excellence a community expectation rather than an exception.