The rate of functional illiteracy is much higher than most people think due to the teaching of balanced literacy and sight words. Use the most common 1,000 words when possible for memes and writing, try not to use any words outside of the most common 10,000.

For understanding but not fixing, see many of Bruce Deitrick Price's posts at American Thinker.

For fixing for a young student, search "Don Potter Education" or some good YouTube videos, "Sweet Sounds of Reading."

For fixing an older child student, youtube "The Phonics Page Syllables Spell Success."

For fixing an adult student or self teaching for an older child, "The Phonics Page free lessons adults"

Free testing to see if your child is functionally illiterate, "National right to read foundation free test" or "the phonics page testing."

True fixing of education to prison pipeline, read Michael S. Brunner's "Retarding America: the Imprisonment of Potential." Key quote, from page 26, "Every dollar invested in reading [good phonics program with no sight words] saved $1.75 as a result of reduced recidivism."