How ADI Can Help Reverse the Decline in Reading and Math Scores

Across the country, state test scores in reading and math have been trending downward. Students are struggling not only with content knowledge, but also with the literacy, reasoning, and problem-solving skills they need to succeed in school and beyond.

This challenge calls for solutions that don’t just prepare students for tests, but also build the deeper skills that tests are designed to measure. That’s where Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) comes in.

NAEP Scores ‘Flashing Red’ After a Lost Generation of Learning for 13-Year-Olds: https://www.the74million.org/article/naep-scores-flashing-red-after-a-lost-generation-of-learning-for-13-year-olds/

Why Scores Are Declining

Educators and researchers point to a few consistent reasons:

• Students aren’t engaged with complex texts.

• Reading is often practiced in isolation, without a real purpose.

• Writing can become formulaic, disconnected from authentic thinking.

• Many students find it hard to apply what they read to solve real problems.

These gaps show up on tests — and in classrooms.

How ADI Builds the Skills Students Need

ADI was originally developed for science and math, but its design naturally supports literacy growth. Every ADI investigation provides purposeful opportunities for reading, writing, and discussion that mirror the skills measured on state tests.

1. Reading with Purpose

Instead of reading for a quiz, students read background information, data, and sources to answer real-world questions. This helps build stamina and comprehension for informational texts, the same kinds of passages students see on assessments.

2. Evidence-Based Writing

Students write to explain their thinking and support it with evidence. This practice mirrors the evidence-based writing tasks tested in reading language arts.

3. Critical Thinking and Analysis

Students evaluate evidence, compare competing claims, and analyze multiple perspectives. These higher-order skills directly transfer to test questions that measure inference, synthesis, and evaluation.

4. Oral Communication and Collaboration

Peer review and class discussions push students to explain, question, and refine their ideas. This deepens comprehension and strengthens the reasoning skills behind successful test performance.

5. Motivation and Engagement

Because ADI is hands-on and meaningful, students are motivated to keep reading and working through challenges. That persistence is key when students encounter complex material on exams.

The Bottom Line

Declining test scores in reading and math are a serious challenge, but ADI offers a proven way to increase reading scores while building the skills students need most.

• Students practice reading with purpose.

• They learn to write with evidence.

• They think critically, discuss openly, and apply what they learn.

See how ADI guides students to read with purpose, discuss evidence, and construct explanations by questioning, exploring, and connecting ideas to real-world phenomena instead of memorizing facts.

Every ADI investigation doubles as a literacy lesson — and that consistent practice leads to higher reading scores and stronger test performance across subjects.

In other words, ADI doesn’t just prepare students for tests. It helps them become stronger readers, thinkers, and problem solvers — skills that will serve them for life.