Raise-a-Reader

    Organizations that benefit from the Raise-a-Reader program

LITERACY STATISTICS:

"The family is the strongest element in shaping lives. It's the most powerful support network there is. It's where the cycle of learning begins, where the attitudes of parents about learning become the educational values of their children. Through education of more than one generation, family literacy programs build on families' strengths and provide the tools and support they need to become stronger and more self-sufficient. " (National Center for Family Literacy - Kentucky)

"More than 40% of working age people in British Columbia have a hard time with the everyday demands of reading, writing and using numbers. This means they may have trouble finding and keeping jobs. It means they may not be able to get the information they need to protect their health, safety or legal rights. And it means they may be unable to read to their children." (Literacy BC)

"Studies show beyond dispute that children's achievements in school improves with increased parent involvement in education." (Henderson, 1998)

"Researchers estimate that over the lifetime of participants in an early literacy intervention program, returns to the public are $7.16 for every dollar invested." (Schweinhart et al., 1993)

"Children raised in literate households are likely to enter grade one with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them." (Literacy BC)

"Research shows children have a better chance of becoming fully literate adults if reading is encouraged in the home." (Literacy BC)

"Many studies have shown that improving parents' skills directly and positively affects the language development of children." (Literacy Skills for the Knowledge Society, IALS 1997, page 62)

"Without crucial parental support, the cycle of under-education continues in families from generation to generation. With support from family literacy programs, children who might otherwise have been educationally and developmentally behind their peers entered school on par with their peers." (U.S. National Center for Family Literacy, Family Literacy and Welfare Reform)

"The National Center for Family Literacy's long-term research with 2,000 families that attended family literacy programs shows that literacy intervention reduced participants' full dependence on public assistance from 67% to 11%." (Literacy BC)