Statistics on Children Who Can't Read or Write

A mentor reads to a group of children.

Literacy goes far beyond the ability to read a book or write a letter. Illiteracy can crusade immeasurable damage to an individual's emotional and intellectual development, and often limits a person'due south ability to achieve a fulfilling and successful developed life.

Stiff literacy aligns with the means that individuals larn and socially interact. Information technology forms the foundation for a lifetime of communication with family unit, peers, and employers. Ensuring stiff reading and writing skills in the early stages of a child's evolution is vitally important to preventing problems later in life, such as unemployment, societal disconnection, and even justice arrangement involvement.

At that place are a number of ways that community members — including school and government officials, families, and friends — can combat child illiteracy. Social workers, teachers, and parents play a vital role in preventing and correcting illiteracy, and many resources are bachelor to support their efforts. Promoting literacy in the domicile is especially of import for communities facing social distancing measures and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Child Illiteracy Statistics

Babyhood literacy efforts are essential to reducing the rates of developed illiteracy. Some 36 one thousand thousand adults in the U.S. don't have basic reading, writing, and math skills to a higher place a third-grade level, co-ordinate to ProLiteracy. And adult education programs are bereft to meet the demand for services. If literacy tin can exist improved during childhood development, it opens new opportunities for individuals later in life.

The following statistics shed some light on the importance of childhood literacy:

Literacy Unpreparedness Entering School

Children of adults with depression literacy skills are 72% more likely to be at a low reading level in school, according to ProLiteracy.
Two out of every 10 children enter kindergarten with skills two to three years lower than their grade level, and some other 2 start school with a one-year disadvantage, co-ordinate to the Children's Reading Foundation.
Students who are backside typically make only 1 year'due south worth of progress at each form level, keeping them backside their classmates throughout schoolhouse and making them more than likely to repeat grades.

Lack of Course-Level Proficiency

Some 34% of students are below basic reading level in the fourth course, according to the U.S. National Center for Teaching Statistics (NCES). Another 31% are below the proficient reading level.
About 27% of 8th grade students are below bones reading level, per NCES. Some other 39% are below the proficient reading level.

Child Illiteracy and Dropout Rates

Illiteracy is a major factor in whether adolescents graduate from high schoolhouse. One in half-dozen high schoolhouse students — or nigh i.2 million teens — drop out each year, according to ProLiteracy.
Some 4.5 million young adults (anile 16 to 24) are "disconnected" — meaning they are non in school or working, according to Measure of America. These individuals often lack a loftier school diploma or GED.
Students who are behind when they start kindergarten make up the largest portion of school dropouts. These students take a less than 12% chance of attention college, co-ordinate to the Children's Reading Foundation.

Socioeconomic Factors Backside Child Illiteracy

Poverty plays a big role in whether children develop literacy skills during their early on years. Some 22% of children in the U.S. live in poverty, according to the Seattle Mail service-Intelligencer. Some 43% of adults living in poverty have low literacy levels.
Well-nigh 80% of children living in economically disadvantaged communities will lose reading skills over summer breaks due to a lack of access to books and other resource, according to Reading Is Fundamental.
Ethnicity is also a cistron. Near 52% of Blackness fourth-grade children and 45% of Hispanic 4th graders score below basic reading levels, compared to 23% of white students, according to NCES assessments.

Additional Illiteracy Statistics

For additional information about child illiteracy statistics, explore these resources:

Adult Literacy Facts: Data on the state of literacy in the U.S. via ProLiteracy

Fifty Top Literacy Statistics: Facts about early on literacy and brain development from Ferst Readers

"Poverty & Illiteracy in Schools": Information on poverty and illiteracy from the Seattle Postal service-Intelligencer

School Readiness: Show on the importance of school readiness from The Children'due south Reading Foundation

The Crisis: Statistics on youth dropouts and literacy levels from the American Youth Literacy Foundation

The Issue: Literacy facts and statistics from Reading Is Fundamental

The Nation'southward Report Menu: Results from the 2022 National Cess of Educational Progress from the NCES

Youth Disconnection: Statistics on the number of young adults disconnected from social club via Mensurate of America

Causes and Effects of Kid Illiteracy

Childhood illiteracy is caused by numerous factors, but most often it is related to abode environments. The level of literacy support in children's living situations is influenced past income levels, employment status, crime and violence rates, regional location, and other factors.

Causes of Child Illiteracy

Some causes of kid illiteracy include:

Family history of illiteracy
- Childhood illiteracy is typically intergenerational. Parents and caretakers with a depression literacy level are not well prepared to nurture literacy in children. Some 73% of children with undereducated parents (less than a high school diploma) live in depression-income settings, according to Comic Relief Usa.
Lack of books at home
- For families living in poverty, books are a luxury buy outweighed by basic living expenses. More than half of families living in poverty don't accept children's books in their homes, co-ordinate to the Seattle Postal service-Intelligencer.
Lack of attention to the importance of reading
- Low-income parents are often disengaged from their children's education, typically due to stress from financial and work insecurity, co-ordinate to Literacy Partners.
Nonnative status
- Many families that immigrate from other countries have difficulty adopting the English. Of low-literacy adults, about 35% are non-U.S.-born citizens, according to the NCES.
Poor access to technology resource
- Much of today's schoolwork requires access to online resources, and students living in poverty may lack computer or cyberspace resources at home.

Effects of Child Illiteracy

Children who take low literacy are more likely to get bad grades, have more school absences, and display behavioral issues. For children in schoolhouse, poor literacy can make students feel incompetent, which can outcome in low self-esteem and isolation. A lack of childhood literacy too has a negative impact on adult life.

Illiteracy is connected to unemployment and low-paying jobs
- Many Americans lack the literacy skills to fill up out a task application. I in v adults struggle to read basic sentences and fill out forms, according to the Barbara Bush Foundation.
- Low reading and math skills lead to higher rates of unemployment. During the spike of unemployment caused by the COVID-xix pandemic, unemployment rates were highest among individuals lacking a loftier school education, according to The Washington Postal service.
- Illiteracy results in a lack of college education, creating a smaller base of intellectually skilled employees in the workforce. Globally, illiterate people earn about 35% less than literate employees, according to the World Literacy Foundation.
Illiteracy is a gene in the toll of health literacy
- Limited health literacy, or the ability to obtain and understand health data, is closely related to an individual'due south literacy level. Improving reading and writing skills can help improve private health outcomes.
- Health illiteracy can outcome in a decreased power to access wellness services, complete medical forms, manage chronic conditions, and empathize health risks.
Illiteracy is linked to college rates of incarceration
- Some ii-thirds of students who lack proficient reading skills past the terminate of quaternary grade end upward in jail or on welfare, co-ordinate to BeginToRead.
- Some 85% of youth who are involved in the juvenile court system are classified equally functionally illiterate. About 70% of inmates in U.S. prisons can't read above a fourth-grade level, per BeginToRead.
Illiteracy has a negative touch on on society
- Low levels of literacy cost the U.S. an estimated $225 billion in workforce productivity losses, criminal offence, and unemployment-related loss of tax revenue, according to ProLiteracy.
- Illiteracy also results in expenses for federal and land welfare programs. A majority of welfare recipients are high school dropouts, and most food stamp recipients have poor literacy levels, according to BeginToRead.

Information on Illiteracy Factors

The following websites provide background information on the causes and furnishings of child and adult illiteracy, and why illiteracy is and so prominent amid sure socioeconomic groups.

Causes of Illiteracy: The Literacy Foundation of Quebec outlines the consequences of illiteracy.

Irresolute Illiteracy in the U.South.: Comic Relief US works to lower poverty and its sick furnishings through the Cherry Nose Day initiative.

Engaging Families in Health Literacy Comeback: The American University of Pediatrics works to meliorate health literacy in parents to improve child health.

Global Illiteracy: The World Literacy Foundation helps support global kid literacy initiatives.

Literacy Statistics: Incarceration and Welfare: BeginToRead outlines the connection betwixt literacy and socioeconomic conditions.

Parents' Educational Interest Fuels Children's Success: This data from Literacy Partners discusses how parents influence child outcomes.

"This Is How Economic Hurting Is Distributed in America": This Washington Post commodity outlines unemployment trends during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resource to Combat Child Illiteracy

Social workers and family members who desire to help students gain stronger reading and writing skills should take reward of the numerous resources bachelor to support literacy learning. The number of online and digital literacy tools has grown, and there are numerous organizations that work to provide books to disadvantaged children.

Working to ameliorate literacy in the abode is especially of import, as most students are unable to attend school during the COVID-xix pandemic. Many schools take switched to at-home learning structures in response to stay-at-habitation orders, putting immense pressure on parents to brand sure that children achieve their education goals.

School districts are providing online learning support, including tools for students to keep learning over the summertime months. Exploring school websites and getting in touch on with teachers, counselors, and administrators is a proficient starting time step for caregivers and other concerned parties who want to enhance calm learning opportunities.

Resources for Social Workers

Social workers tin can use their skills and connections to help curb kid illiteracy and mitigate bug that may manifest in adulthood. Social workers can partner with and educate teachers and parents to improve literacy efforts.

The post-obit websites and tools can aid social workers develop concrete strategies that can be utilized in diverse socioeconomic atmospheric condition:

Books Build Connections Toolkit: Tipsheets and other resources for professionals and families from the American Academy of Pediatrics

Free Screening and Development Tools: Tools to screen children for literacy skills from Go Gear up to Read

Practices Guides for Practitioners: Tipsheets and video guides promoting child literacy activities from the Centre for Early Literacy Learning

Resources for Children and Families: An extensive list of online resources and tools, including COVID-xix coping mechanisms and at-home learning activities from Get-go v Clan

Websites, Downloads, and Videos on Literacy: A listing of tools to help develop literacy skills from the National Eye on Improving Literacy

Schoolhouse-Family unit Partnership Strategies: A guide on how to develop a schoolhouse-family partnership programme to engage parents in learning from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Resources for Parents

Parents are their children's beginning teachers. Caregivers tin can encourage good reading and writing habits by reading to children during infancy and toddler stages. Parents can also proper noun objects, follow along with audiobooks, and discuss stories and words with children. Alphabet games, picture books, and toys all encourage literacy.

In after years, it is important to give children access to books and writing tools, including via public libraries. Technology tools can be very helpful but shouldn't completely replace books and writing by hand.

At that place are a number of online guides for parents who are looking to assistance their children improve literacy skills at home, such every bit:

V Easy Ways: Methods for promoting literacy behaviors in infants and toddlers from the Maine State Library

Ideas and Strategies: Speech sounds, phonics, and other strategies from the National Center on Improving Literacy

Parent Resources: Tips, articles, and volume lists for parents from Scholastic

Quick Guides for Families: Communication for families on literacy and encouraging reading from Reading Is Key

Resource Library: Literacy appointment resources and tips from Reading Partners

These literacy tools can help parents improve kid reading and writing skills:

Cookie: Free interactive games and activities designed by child experts and educators

Family Readers Phonics Method: Reading with a phonics learning method from BeginToRead

FUNetix: A mobile app for literacy development from the American Youth Literacy Foundation

Reading Games: Online and mobile games and printable activities from JumpStart

Rhyming Games: These rhyming activities from PBS Kids help with reading preparedness

At that place are also a number of organizations that provide free online books. Many of these organizations are stepping up efforts to combat child illiteracy during the COVID-19 pandemic:

International Children's Digital Library: Free online books for families, including books in dozens of languages

Open up Library: Free eBooks from the Internet Archive organization

OverDrive: Free eBook borrowing from thousands of libraries using a local library carte

StoryPlace: Children's digital learning library with costless storytime activities and virtual live storytime programs

Storyline Online: Costless videos of children's books being read by celebrities

The Role of the Social Worker in Promoting Kid Literacy

Social workers can have on a vital part in preventing and treating child illiteracy. Whether they piece of work with kid welfare organizations or school districts, social workers can fill the gap left by busy or underprepared parents and overwrought teachers.

Social work professionals demand to develop strong interpersonal, trouble-solving, and emotional skills to help guide educators and parents to promote child literacy strategies. A social worker is tasked not only with helping at-risk populations but also with raising customs sensation of the challenges that these populations face.

Social Workers and Schools

School social workers work with their districts to design plans and strategies to improve students' academic operation as well as their social development. These professionals may educate teachers on how to identify students who need extra help developing reading and writing skills. They can also help schools develop literacy programs and bespeak them to literacy resource.

Students need to learn skilful study habits, self-discipline, and confidence in their abilities. When social workers have direct interaction with children, they tin can aid with this by counseling students on organizational strategies and pointing them to helpful tools. They can too assistance evaluate students to determine if whatever learning disabilities or social challenges are present that may require special assist.

Social Workers and Parents

Schoolhouse social workers can help strengthen the connection between parents and school teachers and administrators. Schoolhouse-family partnership programs that engage parents in a kid'southward education tin aid institutions amend grades, attendance, and graduation rates. For instance, social workers tin organize a workshop for parents and staff to share strategies on improving literacy skills in the home and at school.

When conducting dwelling visits, family social workers can find roadblocks to literacy and work with parents to overcome these challenges. Social workers can point families to online resources and connect them with local libraries. They tin also educate parents well-nigh child development stages and share strategies such equally reading and talking to children starting in infancy.

Resources for Schools

Social workers can piece of work with educators to provide students with the support they need to develop and hone reading and writing skills. They tin as well help connect schools with external organizations dedicated to combating child illiteracy.

There are many support organizations that provide literacy tools for schools and other organizations:

Barbara Bush-league Foundation: Provides training for teen mentor programs to help first- through third-graders better reading skills

Believe in Reading: Provides grant funding for literacy programs

Inferior Library Lodge: Provides grants for school libraries and reading programs

ProLiteracy: Offers a list of literacy grants and funding options

Red Olfactory organ Day: Provides funding for early on education programs to combat poverty

Save the Children: School-based child literacy programs for rural communities

The Children's Reading Foundation: Conducts seminars and school learning programs

Gratuitous or discounted books for schools and other organizations working to combat child illiteracy:

Better World Books: Distributes book donations to schools and other organizations

Book Trust: National literacy program providing free books for Title I simple schools

Families Learning Together: Cartons of books at discounted prices from First Volume for qualifying organizations, likewise as free downloadable activity guides

Open eBooks: Free online library from Starting time Book for qualifying organizations

We Need Various Books: Classroom book giveaways for depression-income schools

Nurturing childrens' power to read and write is key to the development of a successful and productive society. Parents, teachers, social workers, and other community members can play essential roles in preventing and correcting child illiteracy.

Additional Resource:

Ferst Readers, Links to More Resource

National Centre for Pedagogy Statistics, Adult Literacy in the United States

Reading Rockets, "In Search of Gratis Books"

Reedsy, "The 20 Best Places to Find Complimentary Books Online"

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Workers

We Are Teachers, "18 Complimentary (or Cheap) Ways to Stock Your Classroom Library"

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Source: https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/child-illiteracy/#:~:text=Child%20Illiteracy%20and%20Dropout%20Rates&text=One%20in%206%20high%20school,each%20year%2C%20according%20to%20ProLiteracy.