Illiteracy in America among black and brown students has become an epidemic. Today, only 15% of black 8th graders read at or above “proficiency” (Coleman 1). Literacy is a vital skill needed to progress efficiently in life, without it, individuals will lag behind and not have the opportunity to become involved citizens. It is unfair to put minority students at such a disadvantage in life by not giving them equal access to quality education, whether that be through a lack of specialized reading programs or lack of funding in predominantly black and brown schools, these students have been denied the quality education that they deserve. Students should not be forced to face systematic disadvantages based on the color of their skin. To resolve the injustices in the American education system, society must bring awareness to the rising epidemic of illiteracy among minorities.

            The United States must provide equal funding to all school districts to decrease illiteracy rates among black and brown students. Schools in the United States are not funded equally due to an out-of-date and unjust system. Currently, in the United States, “school districts serving the largest populations of Black, Latino, or American Indian students receive roughly $1,800, or 13 percent,” less funding than schools serving low minority populations (Morgan and Amerikaner 1). School funding in the U.S. is determined by property taxes, thus students who live in neighborhoods with high percentages of people living in poverty will receive less funding than their white, low-poverty counterparts. Although, the U.S. Department of Education has attempted to resolve the disparities in school funding by creating the Title I fund, a service that allocates government funds to distribute to schools with “high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards,” (U.S. Department of Education 1). Although the fund has helped several schools across the nation, substantial disparities in funding are still apparent in public schools. In New York, the difference in spending in high-poverty and low-poverty districts was -$2,927, and the difference between high-minority and low-minority districts was -$2,636 (Adamson and Darling-Hammond 10). Even with access to additional funding, high-poverty, and minority districts still are far from equal to their low-poverty counterparts. To achieve equal literacy rates across the nation, we must begin with equal funding.

            Additionally, children in underfunded schools often lack the proper resources required to advance reading skills. The effects of low funding are outstanding, “among students growing up in under-resourced communities — mainly African American and Hispanic students […] — about 60 to 70 percent have weak reading skills,” compared to their non-minority counterparts (Sedita 1). Typically, high-poverty districts require more social programs for students to be successful in school, but with less funding these schools are often left with few resources and inadequate social programs for students. Lack of proper learning resources due to underfunding leads to low literacy levels and ultimately fails minority students in America. However, underfunding is not the only challenge minority students face in their early education.

           Poor curriculum standards and lessons require improvement to adequately educate students, so they are able to achieve necessary reading skills. The current reading curriculum given to teachers is flawed, Emily Hanford observed a classroom and concluded that:

“Reading instruction in American schools has been rooted in a flawed theory about how reading works, a theory that was debunked decades ago by cognitive scientists yet remains deeply embedded in teaching practices and curriculum materials. As a result, the strategies that struggling readers use to get by — memorizing words, using context to guess words, skipping words they don't know.” (Hanford 1)

In many underfunded, minority school districts, teachers have no choice but to use the curriculum provided, which ultimately handicaps students’ learning. If students do not successfully learn to read, they will face many barriers in life. Unfortunately, larger numbers of “poor readers become high school dropouts and end up in the criminal justice system” (1). These cycles are often perpetuated by poverty because “reading is the gatekeeper to functioning and succeeding academically, professionally, and civically,” thus illiteracy becomes a major setback in life as it makes finding jobs difficult (Coleman 1). Proper reading skills are necessary to a successful life and require effective reading curriculums.

            Alongside poor curriculum, districts with high minority and high poverty populations are forced to hire teachers who lack proper teaching skills. Many studies have shown minority schools with high-poverty populations “are 3 to 10 times more likely to have teachers who are uncertified, not fully prepared, or teaching outside their field of preparation than students in predominantly white and more affluent schools,” (Adamson and Darling-Hammond 4). Untrained or underqualified teachers are not taught effective teaching techniques required to help children learn to read, therefore students are left with inadequate reading skills and often fall behind on reading benchmarks. Moreover, “low-salary districts disproportionately serve much larger proportions of students of color and ELLs than districts offering the most competitive salaries,” and oftentimes have larger class sizes (22). When minority districts have low salaries, they are unable to afford more experienced teachers who possess the high-quality teaching skills required to teach children how to read. Some districts have attempted to combat the difference in teacher quality by offering pay stipends to qualified teachers, but very few results have been shown (7).  Additionally, Congress has stepped in to relieve the disparities in teacher quality by adding a provision to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 that teachers must “demonstrate competence” in the fields they teach (4). Although the act is historic for the education system, many districts with high minority populations still contain untrained, novice teachers on their staff. Underprivileged schools are struggling to hire quality teachers and require assistance from the state to better their schools. Proper instruction is vital to equal literacy education for minority and non-minority students.

           Literacy is the backbone of our society, as it allows successful integration into society, and is “ultimately […] the gateway to lifelong learning,” and without literacy equality, “achievement gaps will persist and too many students will not reap literacy’s innumerable benefits,” (Sedita 1). But the American education system is still failing minority, underprivileged children by not allowing them access to equal learning opportunities. The American education system must regulate equal funding among all school districts and provide quality curriculum instruction to ensure that minority groups do not lack literacy skills.