TRUE OR FALSE. Is it true that nearly 30% of 6th grade students cannot read or write, as Marion Maréchal claims?

In the midst of a debate on the establishment of level groups in middle school, the head of the Reconquête aux Européennes list affirms that “nearly 30% of 6th grade students do not know how to read and write”. Marion Maréchal exaggerates.

Teachers mobilized on Thursday February 1 to raise awareness about their working conditions, their salaries but also to defend public schools after the controversial declarations of their minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. Some 20% of teachers were on strike according to the ministry, double according to the unions. In particular: the establishment of level groups at college. The opportunity for the head of the Reconquest list! to the Europeans, Marion Maréchal, to alert on the level of the students: “When we have nearly 30% of 6th grade students who cannot read and write, we make choices, that’s a return to basics”, she assured on RMC. Nearly 30% of students cannot read or write, true or false? Franceinfo checked.

Difficulties reading and writing

Marion Maréchal exaggerates. There is not a third of students who cannot read or write, but a third of students have difficulty reading and writing. If we take the results of the French assessments at entry into 6th grade, carried out last September, precisely 27% of students are found in groups 1 and 2, that is to say the groups with the worst results. There are 11% in group 1, which includes the students with the most difficulties. But that does not mean that all these students cannot read or write. This means that they have not acquired all the skills in lexicon, text comprehension or even reading.

To assess the level of French of students entering 6th grade, young middle school students carry out several tests: a reading test, an oral comprehension test, another for written comprehension and lexicon exercises, grammar and spelling. In each test, there is a threshold of success, an objective to be achieved to consider that the skills have all been acquired and mastered.

A test of 90 words read in one minute

During the reading test, students must read as many words as possible in one minute. Result: 17% of them failed to read more than 90 words in one minute, the level expected in CE2 class. This figure of 17% is almost twice less than the rate mentioned by Marion Maréchal when she states that “nearly 30% of students cannot read and write”. Furthermore, the majority of these students know how to read, but with less fluency than what is expected in 6th grade. Nearly 60% of them reached the objective of 120 words read per minute, the level required at the start of middle school.

For writing, there is no longer dictation in the 6th grade assessments. In the grammar test, 15.5% of students have not acquired all the skills; they are part of the group of “needs” students, who require support. 20.6% have not acquired all the spelling skills.

Disparities depending on college or between girls and boys

There are also disparities depending on the colleges: in REP + colleges, priority education colleges, more than half of the students have difficulties in French. This is twice as much as the national average. Overall, girls performed better than boys in all events. Also note that students who are used to being late for class systematically have poorer results.