2006 More than 8 million U.S. students in grades 4-12 struggle to read, write, and comprehend adequately.

2004 Three out of ten eighth graders read at or above grade level, National Assessment of Educational Progress.

2003 Only three-fourths of high school students graduated in four years, the National Center for Education Statistics reports.

2002 Just over half of African American and Hispanic students graduated at all.

Source: Courtesy of Educational Cyber PlayGround & National Center for Educational Statistics

Community Need

Most of the reading problems faced by today's adolescents and adults are the result of problems that might have been avoided or resolved in their early childhood years. "Reading is typically acquired relatively predictably by children who… have had experiences in early childhood that fostered motivation and provided exposure to literacy in use." National Research Council, 2000

The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school. National Commission on Reading, 1985.

The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home. Children who have not already developed some basic literacy practices when they enter school are three to four times more likely to drop out in later years. National Adult Literacy Survey, 1993.

68 percent of low-income 4th graders cannot read at a basic level. In fact, despite $120 billion in federal spending since 1965 to raise the achievement of poor children, a wide educational attainment gap remains between rich and poor students. Reading Statistics