This is particularly true when they start reading complicated, expository formats they haven't encountered before. The more kids struggle, the more you begin to get a chorus rising, and that's what you're seeing now. The lesson we have to learn is that it really does take good reading instruction from Kindergarten through 12th grade to produce the kinds of sophisticated readers we need for an information society. The information is available, and most teachers going through preparation programs encounter it. But many don't get the depth of information they need, particularly those at the secondary level.
Many educators are unaware of the reading demands that their fields place on children.
You can't really navigate with the Web without very sophisticated reading and search skills. While there may be some information in visual form, you can't get to it unless you have very developed literacy skills. To use technology, students need more literacy, not less. High-stakes tests exacerbate the issue because you're not testing students' content knowledge, you're testing their reading ability with these tests. Kids who struggle with reading already know they're not going to do well on these tests.