Reading affects everything!
Reading is one of the primary ways we understand and connect with the world around us, and to worlds we could never have imagined. Literacy is a foundational skill on which success in school and future life depends.
Without fluent reading skills, children struggle to learn, leading to high frustration, anxiety, shame, and sometimes behavioral and mental health issues. Nearly all children have the cognitive ability to learn to read, and at Teach My Kid to Read, we want to help make that happen. Through partnerships with librarians and other community influencers, Teach My Kid to Read provides resources and equitable solutions to families so all children can learn to read.
Statistics on illiteracy in the U.S.
According to the United States Department of Education, fifty-four percent of U.S. adults lack proficiency in literacy. Alarmingly, in the United States, nearly two-thirds of all 4th graders are reading below grade level (National Center for Educational Statistics 2019).
According to the American Library Association, ninety percent of those fourth-graders were already struggling in first grade. When a child cannot read proficiently, they can become exhausted from the pain-staking effort it takes to understand the lessons presented. In addition, as schoolwork becomes increasingly complex, keeping up may feel insurmountable.
The trajectories of struggling readers are dramatic. Researchers have assessed that children who cannot read proficiently by 4th grade are more likely to drop out of high school and more likely to become teen parents. As adults, they are also more likely to experience poor health, struggle with unemployment, and spend time in prison.
Imagine if those fourth-graders were identified in first grade and provided with proven reading instruction and interventions that helped them before they started to struggle?
Science says all children can learn to read
Science has shown in numerous studies that there are proven, effective ways to teach reading to children, regardless of their socio-economic situation, potential reading disorders like dyslexia, other languages spoken at home, or their age. So why are so many children and adults struggling to read?
One of the major reasons so many children are struggling to read is that the U.S. does not have a national pre-K – 12 literacy curriculum that is structured or evidence-based. Instead, children are taught to read using fragmented, inconsistent, and ineffective instructional methods grade by grade, state by state.
Fortunately, decades of research on the science of reading have proven that structured, evidence-based reading instruction is effective for ALL students, young to old, English language learners, children with learning disabilities, and those living in under-resourced communities. By working with libraries, families and other community influencers, Teach My Kid to Read is determined to make structured, evidence-based reading instruction a reality for every child and adult.