By age three your child’s brain will be 80 percent of its adult size. At its heart, literacy is about communication, which begins long before a baby utters her first word. Students who aren’t interested in reading have a hard time achieving good grades. Shore, R. (1997). The average child from a professional family hears 215,000 words per week; a child from a working-class family hears 125,000 words per week; and a child from a family receiving welfare benefits hears 62,000 words per week. reading; literacy promotion; health supervision; Learning to read is a critical milestone for children. In positive results, the United States ranks second behind Finland in fourth-grade students (9 years of age) who score well in reading comprehension, accord… The average child from a professional family hears 215,000 words per week; a child from a working-class family hears 125,000 words per week; and a child from a family receiving welfare benefits hears 62,000 words per week. Donald J. Hernandez, Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation. The average child growing up in a middle class family has been exposed to 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading. 40. On average, children in economically depressed communities have 0-2 age appropriate books in their homes. Fact sheet Federal Health Insurance Exchange Weekly Enrollment Snapshot: Week Three. (2005). Children who are read to at least three times a week by a family member are almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who are read to less than 3 times a week. Reading skills are the foundation for children’s academic success. When individuals learn how to read, write, do basic math, and use computers, they have the power to lift themselves out of poverty, lower health care costs, find and keep sustainable employment, and ultimately change their lives. Pearson Education, Inc. 31. 2 3. • There are significant gaps in reading achievement by race and income. Week Three, November 15 - November 21, 2020. In fact, by age 3, roughly 85% of the brain’s core structure is formed. A lack of reading proficiency clearly puts these children at a disadvantage in all aspects of academic achievement. But reading aloud peaks at age 5 and falls off precipitously after ages 6 to 8. WriteExpress Corporation. As of 2009, the Department of Education reported that literacy rates for more than 50 percent of African American children in the fourth grade nationwide was below the basic skills level and far below average; and by the ninth grade nationwide, the situation had gotten worse, with the rate dropping below 44 percent. 28. Similarly, at grade 8 the average reading score in 2019 (263) was lower than the score in 2017 (267), but it was higher than the score in 1992 (260). But current statistics provide a sobering view of reading and literacy skills for children and adolescents in the United States. • Children’s early vocabulary skills are linked to their economic backgrounds. Click here to find out if your child (under the age of five) lives in a participating community. What's Going on in There? However, more than 37 percent of fourth-graders are not reading at the basic level in their grade, and 26 percent of eighth-graders are not reading at their basic level. 104; Indicator ED2.C: Average reading scale scores for students in Grades 4, 8, and 12, selected years 1992–2017 Read More. Berk, L. E. (2009) Child Development (8th ed.). The most important aspect of parent talk is its amount. 33. NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters Health) - Although American children still spend part of their days reading, they are spending less time doing it for pleasure than decades ago, with significant gaps in proficiency, according to a report released on Monday. 37% of children arrive at kindergarten without the skills necessary for lifetime learning. Two-thirds of America’s children living in poverty have no books at home, and the number of families living in poverty continues to rise. The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s schools. The number of American children who say they love reading books for fun has dropped almost 10% in the last four years, according to a US study, with children … To have well-educated adults who read at a high level, students must begin building reading skills at an early age.