A new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation reveals that nationally 80 percent of low-income fourth graders and 66 percent of all fourth graders are not proficient readers. Florida fared only slightly better with 78 percent of low-income fourth graders and 61 percent of all fourth graders not proficient.
As documented in “Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters and Early Warning Confirmed,†the end of third grade marks the point when children transition from learning to read to using reading to learn other subjects. Children who read proficiently by the end of third grade are more likely to graduate from high school and to be economically successful in adulthood.
The local statistics show link between low-income students and graduation rates:
Escambia County has 61.08 percent of its students on free or reduced lunch. Its graduation rate for 2013 was 64.2 percent.
Santa Rosa County has 40.5 percent of its students on free or reduced lunch. Its graduation rate for 2013 was 78.9 percent.
Reduce poverty, improve reading readiness and graduation rates will rise. A simple formula that will take an entire community to implement.