How do you make it all the way to high school if you can't read?

you cheat

Not being American, I needed to google who this person was. Each case would be different however in generalization I would hazard a guess that she fell through the cracks. Many young people get through school without basic functional literacy. As young students they get left behind, large classes and group activities help shield their problem,sometimes teachers fail to find the extra time to get them the basic help. Other times its the amount of red tape involved that puts teachers off. Its easier to push the child to the next level and make it someone elses problem. Informal evaluation not balanced with formal evaluation . Home enviroment can cause problems in some situations. Some of these students manage to mask the problem when they get older. Imagine how emotionally draining this must have been for a teenager .Most students have a very good IQ, please dont mistake illiterate with an inability to learn. I believe, if the right person had found her as a child , and taken an interest, she may have not faced this situation as an adult.

You can make it to high school if you can't read by trying to learn how to read soon or you can just try your best in school and earning high grades and have perfect attendances! Or you can cheat from your classmates but that way you won't learn so it is a bad thing! But of course if you want to, you can always try!

A failed school system. Some people are able to just get by and if no one stops to actually take notice and do something, than that person just gets lost in the system.

you grow up in poverty stricken schools where the level of education is lower than others or you are in special ed?

you don't participate in class teachers don't care