Teaching ALL Children to Read
A Website for Parents, Teachers & Advocates 
Consequences of Reading Failure
  1. See Children of the Code: We Have a Problem. A Public Television website that explores the alphabetic code and the consequences of not learning it—for the child, the adult, and society. http://www.childrenofthecode.org/Tour/c1/index.htm
  2. 38% of American schoolchildren (20 million children) are unable to read grade-level material. (NCES National Center for Educational Statistics)
  3. 25% of the young-adult population lack the basic literacy skills required in a typical job. (United States Office of Technology)
  4. Children raised in poverty, those with limited proficiency in English, those from homes where the parents’ reading levels and practices are low, and those with speech, language, and hearing handicaps are at increased risk for reading failure. (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
  5. It is important to note that a substantial number of children from highly literate households who have been read to by their parents since early in life also have difficulties learning to read (G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D., Why Are So Many Children Having Difficulties?) www.readingrockets.org/article/257 
  6. Reading disabilities account for 80% of all learning disabilities (Kennedy-Krieger Institute). These language-based learning disabilities cost society $7.5 billion annually (The Dana Consortium). And yet, "There is substantial evidence that most public school education programs in the US do not, on average, produce significant improvement in the reading scores of the children they serve." (Dr. Joseph Torgesen, Director Emeritus, Florida Center for Reading Research)

    1. 35% of children with learning disabilities drop out of high school. (National Longitudinal Transition Study)
    2. 60% of adolescents in treatment for substance abuse are learning disabled. (NICHD/Hazelden Foundation)
    3. 62% of learning disabled children are unemployed after graduating from high school. (Wagner’s 1991 National Longitudinal Study)
    4. Approximately 50% of criminal offenders have undetected learning disabilities. (Dr. Nancy Cowardin, American Bar Association)
    5. In some states, the planning for the size of prisons is based on the 3rd and 4th grade illiteracy rates. (NICHD, Reid Lyon)
  7. On the 2009 NAEP (the national assessment), Maine was in the top 25% of the nation's schools for 4th grade reading. However, 65% of Maine 4th graders are reading below proficient level, and 30% were reading below basic. In other words, 2 out of 3 are not learning to read at proficient level, and 1 out of 4 are not learning to read at basic level by Federal standards. (Most state standards were at or below NAEP basic achievement level.  Maine's standards by NAEP's mapping system were in the lower quarter of the basic range. See http://nces.ed.gov.nationsreportcard/studies/statemapping/presentation.asp ).
  8. As reported in the New York Times on October 30, 2009, federal researchers found that Maine lowered its academic proficiency standards in 4th and 8th grade reading and math scores for the NAEP.
  9. On the 2009 NECAP (the new state assessment), 73% of Maine 3rd grade students scored in the proficient range, but 27% did not. That is a significant number.  That means that 1 out of every 4 children is below proficient level.  That is about 3800 third graders in Maine in 2009.  Students not proficient by the beginning of third grade have only a 25% chance of catching up over their entire school experience according to data from the NICHD.
  10. Also in 2009 in Maine, 3rd grade children who were economically disadvantaged and took the NECAP reading assessment were approximately twice as likely to score below the Fully Proficient level (38% versus 18%).