Impact
How many scholars have you supported so far?
Though we’re less than a year old, we’ve partnered with over a dozen scholars in Washington DC.
How many books have you donated?
To date, we’ve donated over 500+ books to our scholars.
How do you track success?
Scholars entering our program receive an initial intake. We use the Lexile framework for reading as a primary resource to assess reading level. We partner with the scholar’s literacy educator to continue to monitor reading test scores.
Why a focus on scholars from BIPOC communities?
Children’s early vocabulary skills are linked to their economic backgrounds.
By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families.i
34 percent of children entering kindergarten lack the basic language skills needed to learn how to read.ii
The first three years of schooling are a critical time to learn the basic skills needed to tackle a more advanced curriculum yet many who enter fourth grade struggle with reading.
65 percent of fourth graders read at or below the basic level.iii As curriculum advances, these children will fall behind.
There are significant gaps in reading achievement by race and income.
By the time children from low-income families enter grade school, their proficiency in reading has already become an issue.
47 percent of fourth graders from low-income families read below the basic level.
82 percent of Black fourth graders scored below the proficient level, as do 77 percent of Hispanic
and 80 percent of American Indian fourth graders. iv
Source:
i. Colker, L. J. (2014). The word gap: The early years make the difference. Teaching Young Children, 7(3): 26–28. http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/article/the-word- gap;
ii. Council on Early Childhood. (2014). Literacy promotion: An essential component of primary care pediatric practice. Pediatrics, 134(2): 404–409;
iii. National Center for Education Statistics. The Nation’s Report Card: A First Look: 2013 Mathematics and Reading. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ subject/publications/main2013/pdf/2014451.pdf;
iv. datacenter.kidscount.org