More Literacy Statistics

The literacy crisis impacts us all.

Illiteracy affects the lives of millions of people daily and is connected to almost every socio-economic issue in the United States. It affects physical and mental health, employment opportunities, and quality of life. It impacts our classrooms, our workforce, and our sense of community and belonging.

Together, we can reverse the literacy crisis facing America.

  • The Five Strands of Reading

    In 2000, the National Reading Panel reviewed over 100,000 studies and came to the conclusion that there are five essential skills to teach reading: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

  • Science of Reading Based Teaching Methods

    Researchers have demonstrated that virtually all students can learn to read when using methods based on the Science of Reading. Neuroscientists have shown that teaching letter-sound correspondences is the fastest way to develop the neural pathways associated with skilled reading.

  • Accurate & Systematic Phonics Instruction

    Learning to decode means students need access to a code that works! We believe everyone should have access to accurate phonograms and spelling rules, which eliminates exceptions.

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Everyone has the right to learn to read.

"When the phonograms and rules of English are taught in a systematic manner through solid, multimodality teaching methods that develop visual muscle memory, prevent reversals, and address the needs of all types of learners, we will be on our way to solving the literacy crisis for all its current victims and preventing it in future generations. The logic of English needs to be taught from the very beginning of every child's education so that everyone can succeed."

Denise Eide
Uncovering the Logic of English

References

"Average Prose, Document and Quantitative Literacy Scores of Adults: 1992 and 2003." National Center for Education Statistics, n.d. https://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp#1.

Dehaene, Dr. Stanislas. 2013. "Lecture by Dr. Stanislas Dehaene on 'Reading the Brain.'" April 30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNgEUuKcHko.

Dehaene, Stanislas. 2010. Reading in the Brain. Penguin Books.

Eide, Denise. 2012. Uncovering the Logic of English. Second. Minnesota: Logic of English.

Langan, Patrick A., and David J. Levin. "Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994." Bureau of Justice Statistics. U.S. Department of Justice, June 2002. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/rpr94.pdf.

"Literacy Behind Prison Walls." National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. Department of Education, October 1994. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs94/94102.pdf.

Music, Emily. "Teaching Literacy in Order to Turn the Page on Recidivism." JL & Educ. 41 (2012): 723.

Seidenberg, Mark. 2018. Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It. Basic Books.

Twyman, Janet S. "Faultless communication: The heart and soul of DI." Perspectives on Behavior Science 44, no. 2 (2021): 169-193.

U.S. Literacy Rates by State 2024. (2024-08-28). World Population Review. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/us-literacy-rates-by-state