The Problem We Are Tackling
The income gap
Employees without a high school diploma earn an average of $23,000聽year, which deeply affects their ability to break the cycle of poverty. It鈥檚 estimated that when our system fails to support a student through graduation, the cost to society is $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity.
Literacy facts
For years, the percentage of聽the nation鈥檚 fourth graders in public school who can聽read proficiently has hovered at around 35聽percent. Children who are not reading proficiently by the fourth grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school on time 鈥 hindering their chances to live a happy, healthy, productive life. More stunning, one in three students was shown to be reading 鈥渂elow basic鈥 proficiency 鈥 functionally illiterate.
For students experiencing poverty, the situation is even more dire: 82 percent of students eligible for free or reduced lunches are not reading at or above proficient levels by fourth grade.
The Literacy Project Foundation found that three out of five people incarcerated in prisons can鈥檛 read and that 85 percent of minors who have been charged with a crime have trouble reading. Such literacy disparities are linked with high recidivism rates鈥 education being one of the surest ways to reduce the rate of becoming re-incarcerated.
Nearly 9 million kids affected
Every state in the nation has large percentages of students who are unable to read at grade level. In fact, nationally聽more than聽8.7 million low-income students in kindergarten through fifth聽grade are not proficient in reading 鈥 the equivalent of the entire populations of Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta. If students do not receive effective interventions early by聽second聽grade, the less likely they are to ever become grade-level readers. With proper evidence-based interventions in the early grades, children can become strong, proficient readers.