White Paper

Reading Efficiency and Visual Skills: What Every District Needs to Know

Stanford Taylor Foundation | 2026

From Research to Practice: Reading Efficiency & Visual Skills Development in K-12 Schools

Introduction

Reading achievement in the United States has declined significantly in recent decades. A critical and frequently overlooked dimension of this crisis sits at the intersection of literacy and vision: reading efficiency, and the visual skills that underpin it.

This white paper presents some of Stanford Taylor Foundation’s research on silent reading efficiency, the visual skills required for fluent reading, and the tools STF has developed both to help schools assess and address these gaps and to advance this research.

The Challenge: Reading Efficiency and Visual Skills

Reading Is a Physical Process Too

Proficient reading requires more than strong cognitive skills—it is also a physical process that depends on our eyes and brain working well together. Beyond basic distance acuity (20/20 vision), more than a dozen dynamic visual skills are necessary to efficiently focus on, navigate, and process text (American Optometric Association, 2017; College of Optometrists in Vision Development, 2020a & 2020b; Hopkins et al., 2019).

Key visual skills for reading include:

• Fixation stability and flexibility — how efficiently and steadily the eyes hold on a target and shift between targets
• Tracking — how accurately, smoothly, and quickly the eyes navigate lines of print, moving from word to word and line to line
• Binocular coordination — how well both eyes work together as a team
• Convergence (the near-focus component of binocular coordination) — how effectively both eyes turn inward to point at the same nearby object

What Inefficient Reading Looks Like

For students who read inefficiently, the act of reading often feels labored and uncomfortable. These students may regularly lose their place, re-read words, lines, or entire passages, or struggle to remember what they have read. Their eyes may perceive only a few letters per fixation, requiring the brain to work much harder to piece together and sequence words correctly.

Students with visual skills gaps often struggle to sustain attention and complete instructional tasks, contributing to widening achievement gaps (CITT-ART Investigator Group, 2019). These challenges frequently persist and compound over time if left unidentified.

“When students read efficiently, they make fewer fixations, fewer regressions, fixate for shorter durations, and more smoothly navigate their eyes from line to line.” — Dr. Alexandra Spichtig

The Scope of the Problem

Despite extensive focus on literacy in the United States, silent reading efficiency has declined significantly since 1960 (Spichtig et al., 2016; N=2,009). Current data show that half of all students in Grades 2–12—including 70% of non-proficient students and 30% of proficient students—are reading inefficiently (Spichtig, 2020; N=555,558). This is not only a U.S. issue. An international study including four additional English-speaking countries found similar patterns (Spichtig et al., 2019; N=30,463).

On average, U.S. students do not achieve reading rates that exceed the typical speaking range until tenth grade (Spichtig et al., 2016). Given the COVID-era learning recession, it is reasonable to expect that reading efficiency has declined further still (Dewey et al., 2026).

The Relationship Between Efficiency and Achievement

Students in the lowest reading efficiency quartile demonstrate comprehension levels that are, on average, 2–3 grades below their peers in the highest efficiency quartile—a pattern consistent across elementary, middle, and high school. Their interest in reading and self-efficacy are also significantly lower than high-efficiency peers (Spichtig et al., 2017a; N=190,649).

A national sample of second-grade students illustrates the gap starkly: inefficient readers made nearly 50 more fixations (eye stops) on average during a 50-word passage than efficient readers (119 vs. 70 fixations, Spichtig et al., 2017b). Additional STF analysis found that only 48% of the inefficient second graders were proficient on their state or local reading assessment, compared to 81% of efficient readers.

The Visual Skills Gap in K–12 Schools

Recent STF research has found that more than 50% of elementary students and 25% of middle school students with low reading performance may have underdeveloped visual skills (Ferrara et al., 2025; n=369). These findings have significant implications for how schools approach early literacy screening and intervention.

Despite this, most states do not screen students for the visual skills most relevant to reading. While over 80% of states require some form of distance acuity screening at the elementary level, most states do not evaluate students’ vision for close-range work, or screen for skills like tracking, binocular coordination, and convergence (Wahl et al., 2021).

If a higher prevalence of underdeveloped visual skills is present during the “learning to read” phase, it likely hinders students’ ability to achieve early literacy proficiency. Data suggest that some students may compensate by developing inefficient reading habits that persist into the “reading to learn” phase, even if their visual skills naturally improve over time (Ferrara et al., 2025).

Just as cognitive skills can be strengthened through instruction and practice, the visual skills underlying reading are likewise trainable. Evidence shows that visual skills can be improved through targeted practice and training (Chen et al., 2021; CITT-ART Investigator Group, 2019; Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial Study Group, 2008; Scheiman et al., 2011), making early identification all the more critical.

Underdeveloped visual skills may burden not only the physical process of reading, but also the cognitive processes required for early literacy development—creating barriers that compound over time.

STF Assessment Tools for Schools

Reading Efficiency Insights (REI)

Reading Efficiency Insights (REI) is an adaptive, web-based assessment that measures a student’s comprehension-based silent reading rate and provides individualized instructional recommendations for teachers. It is designed for any student who has at least a Grade 1 independent reading level.

REI was designed by Dr. Alexandra Spichtig and her STF team, who bring nearly three decades of expertise in reading efficiency measurement and instruction. Dr. Spichtig’s prior reading assessment work—used by millions of students since 2013—demonstrated strong technical properties for validity, reliability, and classification accuracy (NCII, 2018; Ferrara et al., 2019).

Key features of REI:

• An adaptive comprehension-based silent-reading-efficiency screener that classifies each student into one of four reading efficiency developmental zones
• Uses reading passages (250–500 words) that are carefully calibrated using multiple text complexity metrics
• Includes comprehension checks emphasizing close reading
• Generates norm-referenced reading efficiency measures based on a national reading efficiency study (Spichtig et al., 2016)
• Includes individualized, performance-based instructional recommendations
• Supports multiple test administrations per year without passage repetition
• Estimated completion time: approximately 20 minutes in a group setting
• Includes intuitive, actionable dashboards and reporting for educators

REI addresses a gap that is currently largely overlooked in literacy education. While online assessments measuring reading comprehension are widely available, reading fluency is still most often measured manually, typically relies on oral assessments, and without comprehension verification—using teacher-created materials that vary widely in quality. The REI not only measures a student’s silent reading fluency within an authentic reading task but also includes comprehension tasks that are focused on close-reading (e.g., main idea and textual evidence). Higher-order thinking tasks and background knowledge items are intentionally excluded because they conflate reading efficiency measures with skills that, while related, draw on additional domains beyond close reading. This narrow scope is strategic: it keeps the diagnostic signal clean. REI provides educators with a high-quality, automated tool for gathering this critical data, sparing them the work of locating appropriate texts, writing carefully crafted comprehension questions, and calculating reading rates manually.

Visual Skills Insights (VSI)

Visual Skills Insights (VSI) is an age-differentiated screener informed by a comprehensive review of nearly two dozen existing survey instruments used by optometrists, vision specialists, and reading researchers (Borsting et al., 2003; Leske et al., 2019; Goldstein et al., 2022; Mangione et al., 2001; Abu Bakar et al., 2012, and others).

The VSI uses a 5-point Likert scale across 30-35 items, depending on grade band, to explore student-reported symptoms associated with underdeveloped visual skills in the following four visual skills domains and one secondary symptoms domain:

• Accommodation
• Binocular coordination
• Oculomotor control
• Visual processing
• Secondary symptoms/behavioral (e.g. losing one’s place, getting tired while reading, etc.)

STF piloted grade-group-differentiated versions of the VSI in partnership with a PK–12 school district over three consecutive school years to inform its development. Administration is flexible, but the recommended administration is:

• Grades K–2: One-on-one administration with educator-entered responses
• Grades 3–12: Independent group administration; students can access audio supports for all questions and responses
• Estimated completion time: 15-20 minutes per student
• Classifies each student into one of three developmental zones
• Provides actionable instructional recommendations based on assessment results
• Includes intuitive, actionable dashboards and reporting for educators

The VSI equips educators and school leaders with a scalable, research-informed tool to identify students who report signs of underdeveloped visual skills and may benefit from visual skills training.

Reading Efficiency Practice (REP)

Reading Efficiency Practice (REP) is designed to provide structured practice focused on reading efficiency development. The REP is an adaptive, web-based practice tool that combines personalized reading efficiency practice and adaptive instruction. Students are automatically placed within the REP based on their performance within the REI. Any student who has at least a Grade 1 independent reading level is ready for efficiency practice.

Similarly to the REI, the REP was designed by Dr. Alexandra Spichtig and her STF team. Prior instructional tools designed by Dr. Spichtig produced results that received ESSA rating Strong.
Key features of REP:

• Adaptive instruction that provides personalized practice
• Automated placement and instructional assignment based on REI results
• Choice of informational and literary texts with difficulty levels, word counts, and text display formats that are carefully calibrated to a student’s instructional focus
• Carefully crafted comprehension tasks focused on close-reading (e.g., main idea and textual evidence) and specifically designed for reading efficiency development validation
• Estimated lesson completion time: approximately 15-20 minutes
• Student, teacher and administrative dashboards

The REP is designed to engage students in authentic reading tasks while providing a practice environment that promotes the development of efficient and effective close reading habits. During reading efficiency development, comprehension tasks focus intentionally on close-reading (e.g., main idea and textual evidence). Higher-order thinking tasks and background knowledge items are excluded during the efficiency development phase because they can allow for superficial reading or conflate the signal as discussed earlier. The REP provides high-quality practice lessons to the student while capturing valuable performance and growth data that can be monitored by the educator and reviewed by administrators.

Why This Matters for Schools

Reading achievement gaps are among the most persistent and consequential challenges facing K–12 education. Yet school-based literacy initiatives rarely address the physical dimension of reading: whether students’ visual skills are ready to support the cognitive work of reading fluently and efficiently.

The STF research base and associated tools offer school leaders a new lever for understanding and addressing literacy challenges:

• Identify students who are reading inefficiently—before achievement gaps widen further
• Surface visual skills barriers early that may be contributing to low literacy performance or response to literacy instruction
• Equip teachers with specific instructional recommendations grounded in student data
• Complement existing literacy initiatives with an evidence-based, efficient screening approach
• Meet the needs of diverse learner populations with grade-differentiated, accessible tools

Districts that adopt STF’s tools gain access to a research foundation developed through decades of peer-reviewed science—and a team committed to ongoing research, refinement, and partnership.

STF is continuing its research to better understand the developmental patterns of visual skills gaps, their prevalence across grade levels and demographic groups, and their relationship to reading efficiency and proficiency over time. Our goal is to ensure that the tools we provide districts are continuously enhanced, refined, and validated by the latest science.

An Invitation to Partner

STF is enrolling a limited cohort of school pilot partners for the 2026-27 school year. Partners receive early access to the tools at no cost, individualized student-, class-, and school-level reporting, and help shape how these tools evolve in real classrooms—setting the standard for how they’ll reach students across the country. Just as importantly, pilot partners contribute to a growing national evidence base on reading efficiency and visual skills. District and school leaders interested in learning more can contact STF at pilots@stfvision.org or stfvision.org/pilots.

About the Stanford Taylor Foundation

The Stanford Taylor Foundation (STF) is an educational research nonprofit dedicated to understanding and improving reading efficiency and the visual skills that underpin it. Central to this work is understanding the critical role reading efficiency and visual skills play in reading development. STF’s mission is to research, share findings broadly, and develop evidence-based educational tools that support students, teachers, and district leaders in areas of literacy development currently overlooked and underserved.

STF’s team draws on decades of experience in reading research, instructional design, and the development of assessments and instructional products, with extensive published research and conference presentations. Within the past four years alone, our research has been presented at leading national and international literacy and vision science conferences, including:

• Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) — 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026
• Literacy Research Association (LRA) — 2025
• World Education Research Assoc./ British Educational Research Assoc. — 2024
• European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM) — 2024 and 2026

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