No surprise. Most of the middle schoolers where I work are still on a first or second grade reading level. Some of them have even lower comprehension- to the point where they can read a passage out loud and then have no idea of what they just read.
Trouble is, that's exactly how most parents like it. Their precious little runts don't have to do any work, and get passing grades just for not demolishing the classroom or murdering the teacher. When the kids don't pass a fairly simple reading test, they demand the principal fire the teacher instead of asking if there's anything they can do to help the kid pass.
20 years before H. Beam Piper's Neobarbarians are rampaging around.
