When Dr. Margaret Hale questions her University of Houston students about their reading habits, the responses are alarming.
In her fall undergraduate course on adolescent literature for future teachers, about half reported that they don’t really read and don’t enjoy reading.
“That is up from past years,” said Hale, a professor in UH’s College of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
Her observation reflects a national trend that’s hitting Houston’s Black communities particularly hard: Gen Z students are arriving at college unable to meet basic reading expectations.
Recent reports found that nearly half of all Americans didn’t read a single book in 2025, and Gen Z’s reading habits lagged behind those of other generations. College professors nationwide report that students can’t comprehend complete sentences.
Houston education advocates are warning that without intervention, it threatens the economic future of the city’s Black community.
“In the Black community in Houston, where systematic inequities have long impacted educational access, the lack of reading preparedness becomes a significant barrier to long-term success if we’re not
Jacklyn Minimah-Wilson
able to address it earlier on.”
“Students can recognize words but struggle with the comprehension part of it, critical thinking, and just the reading stamina,” said Jacklyn Minimah-Wilson, CEO of Houston-based Literacy Now. “In the Black community in Houston, where systematic inequities have long impacted educational access, the lack of reading preparedness becomes a significant barrier to long-term success if we’re not able to address it earlier on.”
The consequences extend far beyond the classroom.
“If we don’t do that, it’s going to impact the workforce in the long haul,” Minimah-Wilson warned, noting that literacy challenges create barriers to career advancement and economic mobility for Black professionals.
Hale traces the problem to Texas’s high-stakes testing environment, which has fundamentally changed how students learn to read.
“We have seen over the years a decrease in the amount of time that we invest in students reading for enjoyment and more time focused on reading test preparation material,” she explained. “Teachers often fall prey to teaching to the test instead of teaching students how to become a critical thinker, a critical reader, somebody who reads to become a better person and to learn new things.”
The issue is compounded by a lack of culturally relevant reading material.
“If we’re not putting books in front of them that they can see themselves in, then we are providing a disparity of resources,” Hale said. “If I’m a Black child and I only ever read books with white protagonists, I don’t see myself.”
That disparity may worsen. The Texas State Board of Education will hold a first reading this month on a proposed list of required titles for kindergarten through 12th grade, a list Hale describes as dominated by “dead white men” and classic literature from the 1970s and 80s, with little diversity.
“How is having Black students read some of these classic texts going to allow Black students to see themselves? Hispanic students to see themselves, Muslim students to see themselves?” Hale asked. “It is not.”
Literacy Now’s flagship reading intervention program focuses on small-group instruction with evidence-based, culturally responsive curriculum.
The results are striking.
“I just received an email from a principal who was like, ‘We just did our mid-year assessment and almost 75 or 85% of the students you guys are touching have shown so much growth,'” Minimah-Wilson said. “And we still have 13 weeks left with them for the spring semester.”
The key is to start early and make reading culturally relevant and enjoyable rather than test-focused.
“Ten to 15 minutes a day, whether it be parents, your uncles and aunts, and grandmas, just the exposure to different types of texts will be very helpful,” Minimah-Wilson said. โThat includes newspapers, magazines, short articles, and conversations during car rides or grocery shopping. The exposure and different types of texts will be very helpful for young children as they move up in life.”
