Today's children are our nation's hope for building a strong future economy and thriving society. One of the key milestones on the path to success is learning to read in the early grades. As documented in the Casey Foundation's reports "Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters" and "Early Warning Confirmed," the end of third grade marks the point when children transition from learning to read to using reading to learn other subjects. Children who read proficiently by the end of third grade are more likely to graduate from high school and to be economically successful in adulthood. This report provides an update on how fourth graders are faring in reading across the nation and in each state. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, 80 percent of low-income fourth graders and 66 percent of all fourth graders are not proficient in reading. Although improvements have been made in the past decade, reading proficiency remains unacceptably low in an economic environment that requires increasing levels of education and skills for family sustaining jobs. By 2020, the United States is expected to face a shortage of 1.5 million workers with college degrees but will have a surplus of 6 million individuals without a high school diploma who are unemployed because they lack necessary educational credentials. If we do not make sure all children gain the needed reading skills to be successful in school, their future educational and economic prospects will be dim, and our economy will lag. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 6 endnotes.)