Six years since COVID-19 shut down life as we know it, the first generation of children born during the pandemic has started kindergarten. According to new research, the stark challenges that these children experienced as infants and toddlers have had a lasting impact on their early literacy skills. 

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, supporting early literacy is just one of the many ways we improve access to education, income and health. From an early age, strong reading skills enable a student to succeed in school and, later, support their progress through college and into a career. Literacy skills even encourage health by enabling workers to afford high-quality care for themselves and their families. 

In the face of an event as consequential as the COVID pandemic, we must come together as a community to ensure local scholars can succeed. Let’s take a look at the latest research on post-COVID reading skills, as well as how you can support early literacy right here in North Texas. 

Reading Skills Have Suffered Since the Pandemic 

The disruption of the COVID years has had a lasting effect on many children’s learning abilities. According to a 2025 national survey conducted by Lexia, kids born during the pandemic are entering kindergarten with fewer school-readiness skills. Educators report that today’s 6-year-olds have less foundational literacy, attention and social-emotional development. 

The survey’s key findings include: 

• Foundational literacy skills are lagging: 73% of teachers say kindergarteners are behind in early literacy. The biggest gaps include letter sounds, letter recognition, writing letters/names and vocabulary. 

• Social-emotional readiness is lower: 82% say students are less socially-emotionally ready, especially with sharing, collaboration and emotion regulation. 

• Attention spans are shorter: 89% report shorter attention spans during reading; two-thirds say much shorter. 

• Confidence has declined: More than half say students are less confident participating in reading activities. 

In North Texas, educators have certainly had challenges with their students’ reading skills since the pandemic. However, the latest local research shows that third-grade reading proficiency has actually improved by 15% across our service area, signaling a strong recovery from pandemic learning loss. Luckily, our region has been laser focused on reading skills—and it shows. 

Early Literacy Is Foundational for Lifelong Success 

In the face of these troubling national trends, it’s vital for us to continue to work together to ensure North Texas students develop and maintain strong reading skills.  

At United Way, one of our key Aspire United 2030 goals is to increase by 50% the number of local scholars reading on grade level by third grade. That age is a pivotal time in a young reader’s life, because research shows that after third grade, almost all learning across subjects is done by reading. When a child can read proficiently, they are more likely to grow their learning and skills over time, in everything from math to history.  

Reading proficiency doesn’t only benefit students during their school years; it has a ripple effect throughout their entire life that directly supports our focus areas of education, income and health: 

• Children who read proficiently by third grade are five times more likely to graduate ready for success in college or a career.  

• College graduates can earn $36,000 more a year, enabling them to save for the future.  

• Financially stable adults can access quality healthcare for themselves and their families.   

Together, We’re Improving Early Literacy in North Texas 

During the Lexia survey, researchers asked educators what they believe would improve early literacy foundations for today’s kindergarteners. They mentioned four steps that they think would help: 

• Greater family engagement in reading 

• More vocabulary and oral language development 

• Focused phonics practice 

• Increased small-group or one-on-one instruction time 

The good news is that by supporting early reading initiatives, we can meet these needs for local children.  

At United Way, we encourage early literacy in several ways, namely: 

• Reading Day: During this beloved annual tradition, we bring together change-seekers from across North Texas to read to children in hundreds of classrooms. At this year’s Reading Day presented by Atmos Energy, held Friday, March 6, more than 1,000 volunteers will read to 13,000+ students, sparking a love of reading and supporting early literacy. (Volunteer registration is closed, but you can still support Reading Day by making a donation or contributing to our book drive.) 

• Once Upon a Month: This popular program provides children ages 0-5 with free children’s books and accompanying parent guides every month. By encouraging early reading, the initiative stimulates curiosity, language development and learning skills. In the last year alone, we distributed more than 140,000 books to local children, expanding opportunities for families to read together and practice key vocabulary and phonics skills. (You can make a donation to Once Upon a Month to ensure more local children have a home library of their own.) 

To reach our goal of 83% third-grade reading proficiency by 2030, we’ll need to maintain a 3% annual increase through 2030. We’re on track—and committed. And we invite all of North Texas to come together in support of early literacy. Because when our youngest readers are prepared for success, our entire region will benefit for generations to come.