The
Problem
Out of the 198 elementary schools within Houston ISD and Aldine ISD, 29% (58 schools) of them fail to meet 3rd grade STAAR reading requirements.1
In addition, 60% of Houston children enter kindergarten each year lacking requisite reading skills2 and 73% of Houston 3rd graders do not read at grade level.3
Poverty compounds the problem:
- Students who live in poverty are
3 times more likely to drop out or fail to graduate on time than their more affluent peers; if they read poorly, too, the rate is 6 times greater than that for all proficient readers.4 - Economically disadvantaged children hear
30 million FEWER words by age 3 than their more affluent peers. This is known as the "30 million word gap."5 1 book is available for every 300 children in low-income areas as compared to an average of12 books in the homes of their more affluent peers.a
89%
of children in Houston do not attend a Head Start or pre-kindergarten program6Children who do not read on grade level by the end of 3rd grade have only a 1 in 8 chance of ever catching up and are 4 times more likely to drop out of school7
85%
of youth who interface with the juvenile justice system are functionally illiterate8
Only 14% of Houston highschool students are 'College Ready'9
1 in 3 Houston adults is functionally illiterate.b
70% of inmates in American prisons cannot read above a 4th grade level.c
a-c: Baker, et al. (2013). Houston's Literacy Crisis: A Blueprint for Community Action.
1 Texas Education Agency (2019), 2018-19 School Report Card.
2 Children's Defense Fund-Texas (2015), New Census Data Show Texas Leaving More Children in Poverty Than Any Other State, Except California.
3 Texas Education Agency (2019), STARR Aggregate Data for 2018-19.
4 The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2012), Double Jeopardy: How Poverty & Third-Grade Reading Skills Influence High School Graduation.
5 American Federation of Teacher (2003), The Early Catastrophe The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3 - by University of Kansas researchers Betty Har and Todd R. Risley.
6 TPIER Texas Education Agency (2019), Texas Public Prekindergarten Programs and Enrollment Ages 3 and 4.
7 Zickuhr, Kathryn and Lee, Rainie (2014), Pew Research Center, A Snapshot of Reading in America in 2013.
8 The Register-Herald (2014), Functional illiteracy continues to grow, but there is help - by John Blankenship.
9 Texas Education Agency (2017), Texas Academic Performance Report 2016-17.