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Poor Reading in 3rd Grade Damages Lives

Cost of Poor Reading Skills in 3rd Grade

from  http://excelined.org/policy/k-3-reading/   Go to this link for references

 

Life is unforgiving for children who can’t read.

More than 80 percent of students who fail to earn a high school diploma were struggling readers in third grade (1).  And once they drop out, the statistics get very bleak.

Almost 85 percent of teenagers in the juvenile justice system are functionally illiterate (2).

Seven out of 10 adult prisoners can’t read above a fourth grade level (3).

Dropouts make up 90 percent of Americans on welfare and 75 percent of food stamp recipients (4).

 

The evidence is overwhelming.   Illiteracy damages lives.

And the window of opportunity to do something about it closes quickly.

By third grade, students must make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. If they do not, they cannot do their coursework. And so each year as the grade level demands go up, they fall further behind, becoming outsiders inside their classrooms.

School becomes an increasing source of frustration. It loses its relevancy and they drop out.

 

This makes K-3 reading the most critical of all education reforms for millions of students. If we don’t effectively deal with it, then no other education reform matters.