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Booksellers
Teachers
& Librarians
Kids
Get Caught
Listening
Latino Voices
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LITERACY FACTS
- 44 million adults in the U.S.
can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child. -
National Adult Literacy Survey (1992) NCED, U.S. Department of
Education
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- More than 20 percent of adults
read at or below a fifth-grade level - far below the level
needed to earn a living wage. - National Institute for Literacy,
Fast Facts on Literacy, 2001
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- 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 years. -
National Adult Literacy Survey, (1002) NCES, U.S. Department of
Education
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- Students who reported having
all four types of reading materials (books, magazines,
newspapers, encyclopedias) in their home scored, on average,
higher than those who reporter having fewer reading materials. -
The Nation's Report Card: Fourth-Grade Reading 2000, April 2001,
The National Center for Education Statistics
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- In 1999, only 53 percent of
children aged 3 to 5 were read to daily by a family member.
Children in families with incomes below the poverty line are
less likely to be read aloud to everyday than are children in
families with incomes at or above the poverty line. - The
National Center for Education Statistics, NCES Fast Facts,
Family Reading
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- So strong is the link between
literacy and being a useful member of society that some states
use grade-level reading statistics as a factor in projecting
future prison construction. - Bob Chase, President, National
Education Association
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- Since 1983, more than 10
million Americans reached the 12th grade without having learned
to read at a basic level. In the same period, more than 6
million Americans dropped out of high school altogether. - A
Nation Still at Risk, U.S. Department of Education, 1999
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- 56 percent of young people say
they read more than 10 books a year, with middle school students
reading the most. Some 70 percent of middle school students read
more than 10 books a year, compared with only 49 percent of high
school students. - National Education Association press
statement, March 2, 2001
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- "Growing up without books is
growing up deprived and with a deprivation that puts one at risk
for failure." - Dr. Perri Klass, Assistant Professor of
Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
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