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Unlocking the Potential of a Community: Ready to Read
The Larry King Center released Ready to Read, a supplement to Unlocking the Potential of a Community: The Plan for School  Readiness, which summarizes the work and recommendations of an ad hoc committee dedicated to fostering early learning and literacy skills critical to narrowing the achievement gap.
Decades of research point to the critical years of birth to five as a unique opportunity to influence educational achievement for children and improve our community's viability. Specifically, a child develops key language and literacy skills by the age of three which predict later reading success and ultimately their chance of completing high school.
- By the time children from low income families enter kindergarten, they are typically 12-24 months below national norms in language and pre-reading skills.
- By age three, economically disadvantaged children have been exposed to 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers based upon their language experiences and interactions in their family settings.
- In the average middle income family, there are 13 books per child, in the average low--income neighborhood; there is 1 book for every 300 children.
In Charlotte Mecklenburg, only 53% of economically disadvantaged 3rd grade students read on grade level. Ready to Read encourages literacy and language skills, which prime developing brains for reading proficiency. Over 11,000 children enter kindergarten in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools each year. Join these literacy advocates and program providers in helping young children become Ready to Read.
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