Literacy and Reading

Literacy: Facts and Factoids

44 million adults in the U.S. can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child.¹
More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level - far below the level needed to earn a living wage.²
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.³
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.⁴
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.⁵
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.⁶
Since 1983, more than over 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.⁷
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.⁸
"Growing up without books is growing up deprived and with a deprivation that puts one at risk for failure."⁹

¹ National Adult Literacy Survey (1992) NCEC, U.S. Department of Education
² National Institute for Literacy, Fast Facts on Literacy, 2001
³ National Adult Literacy Survey, (1992) NCES, U.S. Department of Education
⁴ The Nation's Report Card: Fourth-Grade Reading 2000, April 2001, The National Center for Education Statistics
⁵ The National Center for Education Statistics, NCES Fast Facts, Family Reading.
⁶ Bob Chase, President, National Education Association
⁷ A Nation Still at Risk, U.S. Department of Education, 1999
⁸ National Education Association press statement, March 2, 2001
⁹ Dr. Perri Klass, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Boston Un