NEW ORLEANS — Education advocates are calling for change after state numbers show students are well below the reading level they should be at, they say this is another component of the city's crime problem.
According to the State Department of Education, the fall 2022 report found only 49.6% of K-3 students are reading on grade level.
Ashana Bigard with Erase the Board says children are struggling.
"When our children have mental health issues or stresses we expect them to learn and read and catch the skills as if they don't have that," Bigard said. "If a parent can have a stable job, affordable rent, affordable food, livable wages, that's going to go a long way to providing stability, so children can concentrate and think."
The State Department of Education reported only 39.2% of kindergarteners are reading at grade level. That number sits around 50% for first graders.
Back in 2020, that number for kindergarteners was 40.4% and 42.3% for first graders.
Aretha Lewis, a parent and child advocate says schools need to be held accountable.
"Some teachers are in positions to want to retain a student but then their administration is telling them they can't retain anybody because it's not going to make our numbers look good," Lewis said. "Not many of those children are ready to go to the workforce, not many of those children are ready to go to post-secondary education and go to college."
Both women are calling for all New Orleans schools to be audited. They say drastic action needs to happen because the education system is failing children.
"The impacts are on all of us when the schools don't do their job, but the biggest impact is the impact it will have on the young person and their future," Bigard said. "You are going to struggle to fill out a job application, or maintain a job, one that actually pays you enough to provide for yourself, you definitely won't make it in college."