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Mere blocks from our church, in our community, children bear the scars and stressors caused by poverty. They struggle in life, and they struggle in school.
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Some students are just one caring adult relationship away from giving up on life, not caring about writing a different future that what has been predicted for them.
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6th grade students failing math or language arts, having chronic absences and poor behavior are 90% more likely not to graduate on time.
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Students not reading on grade level by end of 3rd grade are 4X less likely to graduate HS than their peers who read proficiently. They only have a 1 in 8 chance of ever catching up. American Educational Research Association and Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation
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Students who can’t read well by 3rd grade and live in poverty are 13X less likely to graduate on time than proficient, wealthier peers. American Educational Research Association
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US Literacy rate and illiteracy statistics:
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1 in 4 children grow up not knowing how to read
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85% of juveniles who interact with the juvenile court system are considered functionally illiterate.
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National Dropout Prevention Center
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70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above the fourth grade level. 82% of U.S prisoners are high school dropouts.
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We will never close the achievement gap, we will never solve our dropout crisis, and we will never break the cycle of poverty that afflicts so many children if we don’t make sure that all our students learn to read. Ralph Smith, Exec VP of Annie E. Casey Foundation
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A child who can read and has a relationship with a caring adult has the ability to move out of poverty.
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Literacy truly is power, the power over one’s life. Reading remains a critical pathway to freedom and success in life.