The Need

Reading Skills Build Stronger Futures

The U.S. is facing a reading crisis, with national and state reading tests remaining stagnant since 1998 and two-thirds of students scoring below proficient.

82%

of children from low-income households lack reading proficiency by 3rd grade

74%

of struggling
readers won’t
catch up after
third grade

4x

greater likelihood of dropping out of high school (poor readers nationwide)

85%

of juveniles in the court system are
functionally
illiterate

For students with significant reading challenges like dyslexia, traditional classroom reading instruction often isn’t enough. Additional factors, such as being an English language learner or coming from a low-income household, can make it even more difficult for students to reach reading proficiency.

Why are reading skills so important?

It’s so important to read proficiently by the end of third grade, because this is when students are expected to no longer be learning to read but reading to learn.

What if students don’t have those basic literacy skills?

They will lag in every class, because more than 85 percent of the curriculum is taught through reading. By the end of third grade, 74 percent of struggling readers won’t ever catch up.

In Delaware, reading proficiency rates have been flat for more than two decades, and only 52% of students have been reading at grade level since 2015.

Support Equitable Access to Reading Intervention

Students with a language-based learning disability are more than twice as likely and students from low-income backgrounds are more than five times as likely to drop out of high school.