Two out of every three Nashville children exit third grade off-track in literacy.

It's a years-old problem that's been tricky to fix, even though many groups have identified literacy as one of Metro Nashville Public Schools' — and the city's —greatest challenges.

For over 25 years, Nashville hasn't made the appropriate progress to chip away at low reading numbers, the report says.

This is not a 'hope to solve' problem, but a 'must solve' problem deeply linked to Nashville's ability to continue to grow and be successful economically, socially and otherwise.

About 34 percent of the district's third-grade students left the 2014-15 school year without the appropriate level of literacy skills, as determined by the state. The number was under the state's older, less rigorous TCAP test.

Last year's 2016-17 TNReady assessment reading/language arts early-grade results by district and school haven't been released. The previous year's test was canceled.

Read the full article by Jason Gonzales at The Tennessean