Today's Literacy Crisis

TODAY, MORE THAN 25-MILLION CHILDREN IN THE U.S. CANNOT READ PROFICIENTLY.

"Online learning and missed classroom time during the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the first ever drop in mathematics scores and the biggest recorded drop in reading scores among 9-year-old students since 1990, according to a National Assessment of Educational Progress report. The decline spanned regions, races, sex and income level, with the biggest drop recorded among lower-performing students, with students in the 10th percentile falling 10 points in reading scores and 12 points in math scores from 2020 to 2022, compared to a two-point decrease in reading scores and three-point slide in math scores among students in the 90th percentile." (Forbes, September 2022)

Children are reading less every year. Nationally, reading performance measures for both 4th and 8th graders indicate many are not reading proficiently, as state-wide NAEP reading scores continue to decline YOY:

• 17 states showed a decrease in scores
• 1 showed an increase  
• 34 states no change

Reading is a racial divide. Reading proficiency for white students in the U.S. is 3X higher than for black students (high school seniors.) Of black students in the U.S., only 18% of 8th graders and 17% of 12th graders read “proficiently.” 

Household and financial dynamics impact a child's access to reading, with minority and under-served communities being hit the hardest, with the pandemic widening the divide:

• 32% live in poverty
• 64% have parents with < high school education
• 45% mother-only households
• 35% father-only households

Booker Brings can help engage all children with books and reading in a way that is comfortable, approachable and encouraging for them. In their own homes, on their own terms.