LITERACY FACTS

The Problem:
• Adults Struggle with Reading! 53% of adults in L.A. test in 2 lowest levels of literacy.  This means they can not read a bus schedule well enough to use it. (Source: Literacy at Work Report, 2004)

• Children Are Not Reading at Grade Level! 56% of 3rd grade children in the Los Angeles County are not proficient in reading. (Source: California Department of Education CST ELA Scores 2011)

The Solution:
• Reading Builds School Success! Educational research overwhelmingly supports the premise that “the single most important activity for building understandings and skills essential for reading success appears to be reading aloud to children. (Source: Bus, van Ijzendoorn & Pellegrini, 1995)

• Read to your Child 20 Minutes a Day! A typical middle class child enters 1st grade with 1000 to 1700 hours of one-to-one picture book reading, while a child from a low-income home averages only 25 such hours. (Source: Adams, 1990)

• Talk to your Child Everyday! By age four, children who live in poor families will have heard 32 million fewer words than children living in professional families. (Source: National Center for Family Literacy, 2008)

• Reading Develops Basic Skills! Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3-4 times more likely to drop out in later year. (Source: National Adult Literacy Survey, (1002) NCES, U.S. Department of Education)

Click here to read about the 5 Ways To Improve Literacy.

Click here to download a PDF of the report: Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters.