Why Is Literacy So Important?

One of every 5 people over the age of 15 is illiterate*, yet literacy is of primary importance in today's world. Literacy opens doors of opportunity and understanding that no other skill can provide. The ability to read, write, and understand allows a level of communication that can make a huge difference in every life. Reading is necessary to understand a binding contract or a legal processes. Most modern high-paying jobs require the ability to read and write. And to communicate to anyone over any distance, whether an employer or a pen-pal, a person must have a basic level of literacy, or that effort will fail.

At The Literacy Site, we believe that educating children around the world to be literate is vital to making the world a better place, for them and for everyone else. The dissemination of knowledge and understanding is stymied for those who see the written word as an unsolvable puzzle. With a click a day, you can help fight the spread of illiteracy, and make a tangible difference in your world.

World Literacy Facts*:

• Over 780 million adults in the world are illiterate.
• 64% of the world's illiterate are women.
• Nearly 60 per cent of the estimated 113 million children who do not attend primary school worldwide are girls.
• On average, nearly one in three children does not complete 5 years of primary education, the minimum required for acquiring basic literacy.

U.S. Literacy Facts**:

General Facts & Statistics

• A recent study (included in the Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Vol. 2, edited by Susan Neuman and David Dickinson) 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.

• Over 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving children from low-income families have no age-appropriate books for their children.

• Children from low-income families have been exposed to an average of only 25 hours of one-on-one reading time compared to an average of 1,000 to 1,700 hours for children from middle-class families.

• The National Center for Education Statistics' evaluation of No Child Left Behind reading proficiency scores in 2005 found that 36% of all 4th graders scored in the "Below Basic" proficiency level, and 54% of 4th graders eligible for school lunch program scored in the "Below Basic" proficiency level.

• According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, reading skills among middle school students have remained virtually unchanged for 15 years, improving by only two points between 1992 and 2005.

Summer Reading Facts & Statistics

Prepared by First Book, May 2009

• Did you know that reading just 4 to 5 books during the summer can help prevent a decline in a child's fall reading scores?
  
  Kim, Summer Reading and the Ethnic Achievement Gap, 2004
• Access to books exerts a positive and significant effect on summer book reading independent of other student activities.
  
  Kim, Summer Reading and the Ethnic Achievement Gap, 2004
• In a single academic year, the decline in reading proficiency resulted in an estimated three-month achievement gap between more advantaged and less advantaged students.
  
  Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse, 1996 (as included in Maryann Mraz and Timothy V. Rasinski, Summer Reading Loss, 2007)
• Did you know? In a year, the average American youth spends 900 hours in school and over 1,023 hours watching television.
  
  Barber, B. Harper's, Nov. 1993:41; Nielson, Media Research, 2000.
• By the end of 5th grade, low-income children are approximately 2.5 years behind their more affluent peers, primarily because of summer learning loss.
  
  Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, 66(3), 227-268. EJ 596 384.
• Children who read more books fare better on reading comprehension tests in the fall than those who had read one or no books over the summer. A few books are all it takes!
  
  Debra Viadero, Reading Books Is Found to Ward off "Summer Slump," 2004

*World literacy statistics from UNESCO

**U.S. literacy statistics from First Book