No, more complicated.

We stopped teaching phonics (which is something that we had already tried in the 70s, to similar disastrous results). The “whole language” approach just does not work for the vast majority of children.

Digital devices and the instant gratification machine/shot attention spans also make it so less children are reading for pleasure, so that way that some failed children would at least “make it” through interest and passion is less common too.

The NCLB/ESSA aspects are pulling time from social studies and science, which hamper the ability to think critically about what is read. The focus on state testing also means that literature instruction rarely involves reading entire books, but instead excerpts and passages in high school English classes, which more explicitly mirror what is assessed on the ACT, etc.