The Literacy Gap | EW! Partners | Board of Directors | Staff

The American Literacy Gap
In the US, the typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000-1,700 hours of picture book reading time; a low-income child averages just 25.1

This literacy gap emerges early and, without intervention, widens.  Only 50% of low-income 4th graders read at or above the basic level compared to 79% of their middle-class peers, according to the Department of Education’s 2007 Nation’s Report Card.2

In EW! cities, the disparity is even more stark.  Among 4th graders eligible for free or reduced lunches, 71% in Washington, DC read below the basic level according to 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data; in LA and Chicago, 67% and 60% of low-income 4th grade students cannot read at the basic level, respectively.  62% of low-income Atlanta 4th graders read below the basic level.3

The implications of the growing literacy gap extend beyond the walls of our classrooms.  According to Dr. G. Reid Lyon, Chief of Child Development and Behavior at the National Institute of Health, “surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records indicate that at least half have reading difficulties, and in some states the size of prisons a decade in the future is predicted by fourth grade reading failure rates.”4

EVERYBODY WINS! programs continue to help bridge the literacy gap.  Proven to increase reading-related skills and attitudes, the Power Lunch program has a real and measurable impact on low-income elementary students.  EVERYBODY WINS! USA strives to provide Power Lunch reading mentors for 100,000 students nationwide.

Just the Facts

  • In the U.S., 18% of children (13 million) live below the federal poverty line.5
  • On a typical school day, 17.1 million students receive free or reduced price lunches, categorizing them as “low-income.” To qualify for free/reduced lunch, a child’s household income must be at or below 185% of the poverty line.6
  • Low-income children hear only 1/2 to 1/3 as many spoken words as children in more affluent households.7
  • Among U.S. adults with below basic reading skills, 51% are unemployed.8
  • $500 billion:  Annual cost to the U.S. economy of children growing up poor, a result of eventual lower productivity and earnings, higher crime rates and health costs.9

1Adams, M. (1990.) Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.* (Adams’ research couples an anecdotal estimate of 1,000-1,700 hours of storybook reading with her son and a 1986 study conducted by William Teale with 24 low-income pre-schoolers in San Diego).
2Lee, J., Grigg, W., and Donahue, P. (2007). The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2007 (NCES 2007-496). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.
3NAEP Data Explorer. U.S. Department of Education, NCES. 23. Jan 2008. National Center for Children in Poverty. 2. Feb 2007. http://www.nccp.org/pub_cpt06a.html
6”Child Nutrition Fact Sheet: National School Lunch Program.” Food Research and Action Center. 2. Feb 2007. http://www.frac.org/pdf/cnnslp.PDF
7Hart, B., & Risley T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
8Kutner, M., Greenberg, E., Jin,Y., Boyle, B., Hsu,Y., and Dunleavy, E. (2007). Literacy in Everyday Life: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES 2007-480). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics.
9Holzer, H., Schanzenbach, D., Duncan, G., & Ludwig, J. (Jan, 2007). The Economic Costs of Poverty in the United States: Subsequent Effects of Children Growing Up Poor. Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress.


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