Illiteracy By The Numbers
The Literacy Project addresses illiteracy at its earliest stage by teaching at-risk second-graders how to read. The statistics on literacy underscore the critical need to address illiteracy in the United States:
- Currently, 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate and cannot read above a fifth-grade level
- 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth-grade level
- 57% of students failed the California Standards Test in English
- 1/3 of fourth-graders reach the proficient reading level
- 25% of students in California school systems are able to perform basic reading skills
- 85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading
- 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read
- 3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read
(Sources: National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, U.S. Census Bureau)
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Kevin Vilches Former Literacy Project Student
On Saturday, April 27, 2019, the sixth annual Readers in the Outfield event took place at Angels Stadium. The event, sponsored by the Angels Baseball Foundation and MemorialCare, celebrated the 100 proud second-graders who recently graduated from The Literacy Project program. The Readers in the Outfield event has been held every year since 2013 to recognize the literary achievements of enrolled second-graders.
