Literacy in the United States
“Access to books and educational material is the single biggest barrier to literacy development in the United States and beyond. If we can solve the problem of access, we will be well on the road to realizing educational parity – a goal which has eluded this country for generations.”
- Susan B. Neuman, Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ctr. for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement
Access to Books: The Key to Solving the Literacy Crisis
- A recent study shows that while in middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, in low-income neighborhoods, the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.
- Neuman, Susan B. and David K. Dickinson, ed. Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 2. New York, NY: 2006, p. 31.
- 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children.
- Neuman, Susan B., et al. Access for All: Closing the Book Gap for Children in Early Education. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2001, p. 3.
- The most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print. Communities ranking high in achievement tests have several factors in common: an abundance of books in public libraries, easy access to books in the community at large and a large number of textbooks per student.
- Newman, Sanford, et all. “Americans Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy”; Fight Crime; Invest in Kids, 2000.
- Findings show higher-than-average scores among students who reported more types of reading material at home. 68% of students who had three or more different types of reading materials at home performed at the Proficient level, while students who had two or fewer types of reading material at home performed at the Basic level. Students who had 4 types of reading material at home performed the highest.
- First Book’s mission of creating a steady stream of new, age-appropriate books has been shown to nearly triple interest in reading within months.
- Harris, Louis. An Assessment of the Impact of First Book’s Northeast Program. January 2003.
Poverty and the Literacy Crisis
- Among adults at the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 43% live in poverty. Among adults with strong literacy skills, only 4% live in poverty.
- Reder, Stephen, ed. The State of Literacy in America. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, 1998, p.5.
- Despite dramatic economic growth for our nation as a whole over the last generation, 39 percent of U.S. children live in low-income families, a percentage that continues to grow. The raw number is staggering: more than 28 million children have parents who are unable to meet their family’s basic needs
- Almost 13 million American children live in poverty. Poverty places children at higher risk for a wide range of problems, including factors that may impair brain development and affect social and emotion development.
- The United States could save between $7.9 and $10.8 billion annually by improving educational attainment among all recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps, and housing assistance.
- Garfinkel, I., Kelly, B., & Wilson, K. (2005). “Public assistance programs: How much could be saved with improved education?” Paper prepared for Social Costs of Inadequate Education symposium, Teachers College Columbia University, October 2005.
Crime and the Literacy Crisis
- If the male graduation rate were increased by only 5 percent, the nation would see an annual savings of $4.9 billion in crime-related costs.
- Alliance for Excellent Education. Saving futures, saving dollars: The impact of education on crime reduction and earnings. Washington, DC: 2006.
- 78% of juvenile crime is committed by high school dropouts.
Education and the Literacy Crisis
High School
- Every school day, seven thousand students become dropouts. Annually, that adds up to 1.2 million students who will not graduate high school with their peers as scheduled.
- Alliance for Excellent Education. The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools. Issue Brief. January 2007.
- Each dropout, over his or her lifetime, costs the nation approximately $260,000.
- Rouse, C.E. (2005). “Labor market consequences of an inadequate education.” Paper prepared the Social Costs of Inadequate Education symposium, Teachers College Columbia University. October 2005.
- An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds.
- The Forum for Youth Investment with the Ready by 21™ Partners. Getting the Most Out of Your Dropout Prevention Summit: Planning Guide. May 2008. Forum for Youth Investment and America’s Promise Alliance. <http://www.americaspromise.org/uploadedfiles/americaspromisealliance/dropout_crisis/dropout%20prevention%20summit%20guide%20final2.pdf>.
- In a typical high-poverty, urban school in America, approximately half of incoming ninth-grade students read at a sixth- or seventh-grade level.
- Balfanz, Robert, James McPartland, and Alta Shaw. Re-conceptualizing Extra Help for High School Students in a High Standards Era. Working paperNo. Center for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University. April 2002. 7.
- The average annual income for a high school dropout in 2004 was $16,485, compared to $26,156 for a high school graduate, a difference of $9,671 (according to U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2005).
- Alliance for Excellent Education. “The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools.” January 2007.
Early Education
- 41% of fourth grade boys, and 35% of fourth grade girls read below the basic level, and in low-income urban schools this figure approaches 70%
- U.S. Department of Education. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. National Center for Education Statistics. The NAEP 1998 Reading Report Card for the Nation and the States, NCES 1999-500, by P. L. Donahue, K. E. Voelkl, J. R. Campbell, and J. Mazzeo. Washington, DC: 1999.
- Children entering kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills are the most likely to do well in school later, even if they have various social and emotional problems.
Health and The Literacy Crisis
- America could save more than $17 billion in Medicaid and expenditures for health care for the uninsured by graduating all students.
- Alliance for Excellent Education. Healthier and wealthier: Decreasing health care costs by increasing educational attainment. Washington, DC: 2006.
- A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine shows that older people with inadequate health literacy had a 50 percent higher mortality rate over five years than people with adequate reading skills. Inadequate or low health literacy is defined as the inability to read and comprehend basic health-related materials such as prescription bottles, doctor appointment slips and hospital forms.
- According to the National Academy on an Aging Society, 73 billion dollars is the estimated annual cost of low literacy skills in the form of longer hospital stays, emergency room visits, more doctor visits, and increased medication.
Workforce and the Literacy Crisis
- Unless high schools increases the number of graduates, more than 12 million students will drop out during the course of the next decade, resulting in a national loss of $3 trillion. [6]
- Alliance for Excellent Education. The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools. “Issue Brief,” January 2007.
- A high school dropout contributes about $60,000 less in taxes over a lifetime (Rouse, 2005)
- Rouse, C.E. (2005). “Labor market consequences of an inadequate education.” Paper prepared for the Social Costs of Inadequate Education symposium, Teachers College Columbia University, October 2005.
- The U.S Department of Education expects the literacy gap in America will produce a shortage of 12 million qualified workers in the next decade.
- D’Amico, Carol A. A Blueprint for Preparing America’s Future, The Adult Basic and Literacy Education Act of 2003: Summary of Major Provisions. U.S. Department of Education. Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Washington, DC, June 2003.
Reading
- Across the nation just under half of children between birth and five years (47.8%) are read to every day by their parents or other family members.
- Russ S, Perez V, Garro N, Klass P, Kuo AA, Gershun M, Halfon N, Zuckerman B. Reading Across the Nation: A Chartbook (2007): Reach Out and Read National Center, Boston, MA.
- By the age of 2, children who are read to regularly display greater language comprehension, larger vocabularies, and higher cognitive skills than their peers.
- Raikes, H., Pan, B.A., Luze, G.J., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., Brooks-Gunn, J., Constantine, J., Tarullo, L.B., Raikes, H.A., Rodriguez, E. (2006). “Mother-child book reading in low-income families: Correlates and outcomes during the first three years of life.” Child Development, 77(4).
- The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study found that in the spring of 2000, the children who were read to at least three times a week by a family member were almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who were read to less than 3 times a week.
- Research data lead the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PISA) to conclude that finding ways to engage students in reading may be one of the most effective ways to leverage social change and that being a more enthusiastic and frequent reader was more of an advantage, on its own, than having well-educated parents in good jobs.
- Foster, Amelia. “Making International Comparisons.” Literacy Today. September 2003. Retrieved April 14, 2008. <http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Pubs/foster.html>
- Children entering kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills are the most likely to do well in school later, even if they have various social and emotional problems
- Results from a study conducted by the Organization for Economics Cooperation and Development (OECD), concluded that students whose parents have the lowest occupational status but who are highly engaged in reading obtain higher average reading scores in PISA than students whose parents have higher or medium occupational status but who report a low interest in reading.
- Kirsch, I., de Jong, J., Lafontaine, D., McQueen, J., Mendelovits, J. and Monseur, C. (2002) Reading for Change: Performance and engagement across countries: Results from PISA 2000. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
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