Reading well is avital skill. Third graders who do not read proficiently are four times more likely to leave high school without adiploma, according to astudy over time of nearly 4,000 students nationally. Achieving third-grade reading proficiency also enhances an individual’s lifelong earning potential and their ability to contribute to the nation’s economy and security, researchers have found.
Illiteracy places individuals at greater risk of justice system involvement, poverty, public assistance, poor health decisions and more. Among developed nations, the United States has the highest economic cost of illiteracy at $300.8 billion, according to a2023 report from the World Literacy Foundation (Japan ranked second, with illiteracy costing the nation just $87.8 billion).
Schools prioritize literacy skill building from an early age, but families also have an important role to play in supporting reading at home and contributing to achild’s reading proficiency as theygrow.
Why Parents Should Support Reading atHome
One of the most important roles that parents can play in their child’s education is supporting and nurturing their child’s reading abilities and love of reading. As the poet and children’s author Emilie Buchwald has said, “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”
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Despite decades of intense focus, many schools struggle to teach all students to read. In the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2022 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, researchers found that 81% of fourth-graders in low-income families scored below proficient in reading. These students, the data show, were about one-and-a-half times more likely to fall short of reading proficiency when compared to their more affluentpeers.
Both poverty and race exacerbate this problem: For Black and Latino students, the combined effect of poverty and poor third-grade reading skills makes their high school dropout rate eight times greater than average. Even proficient third graders who have lived in poverty graduate from high school at about the same rate as subpar readers who have never beenpoor.
Parents can exert apowerful influence on achild’s literacy development, reading abilities and attitudes around literacy — and this influence starts at an early age, the research consistentlyshows.
Yet, from 2015 to 2016, alarge share of kids were still missing out on regular story time. Over 40% of all young children, ages 5or under, had afamily member read to them less than four days aweek, according to researchers. Narrow the view to American Indian, Latino and Asian and Pacific Islander kids, and the share of children missing out on regular reading sessions jumps even higher — to50%.
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For many parents, helping their kids to learn to read can be intimidating. Young children’s literacy skills encompass many aspects, amongthem:
- knowledge of the alphabet;
- awareness of the sounds that lettersmake;
- ability to connect sounds with letters;and
- vocabulary.
Early literacy skills do not emerge spontaneously — they require time and practice.
How can parents support literacy development and help to set their child up for future achievement? Luckily there are many proven ways for parents to support reading athome.
How Parents Can Support Reading atHome
Here are afew tips on how to help achild who is struggling with reading or writing.
- Read EveryDay
- Make aSpace for Reading
- Make ReadingSilly
- Visit Your Local Library
- Ask Librarians for Advice
Find atime to read with your child every day. Even abrief daily commitment can will improve reading skills and convey that reading is an important priority foryou.
Create acomfortable, consistent place in your home where you can read together, enjoy books and chat about them. You might even make it aplace where food and drink are welcome — these signal that reading can be asocial activity.
Don’t be afraid to get silly. Reading should be fun. Meet your child where he or she is, and don’t insist on “serious” or “classic” books. Silly books, comics, animé or other art-driven books are agood way to get many children interested in reading. If possible, act out or sing the words of stories or find other ways to enjoybooks.
Plan trips to the library. Getting your child alibrary card can get them excited about books. Don’t worry about reading every book — library trips should be fun. At first, these visits may simply consist of spending time wandering the rows of books and meeting librarians.
Ask librarians which books are appropriate for your child and which books kids are excited about. Below is alist of book recommendations, grouped by reading level, recommended by the Elmwood Park Public Library in Elmwood Park, Illinois. Parents and caregivers can use book options like these to support reading athome.
Book ideas for pre-readers:
- Balls! by Melanie DavisJones
- Baby in the House by Davis F.Marx
- BOB Books series by Bobby Lynn Maslen
- Bugs by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack
- Sound Boxseries by Jane Belk Moncure
- Flip-a-Word series by Harriet Ziefert
Books ideas for kids who are beginning to read with assistance:
- Clifford Is aStar by Norman Bridwell
- Biscuit series by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
- Otto series by David Milgrim
- Puppy Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
- Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems
- Harry Takes aBath by Harriet Ziefert
Books ideas for beginning readers who are ready for achallenge:
- Bones and the Cupcake Mystery by DavidAdler
- Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold
- Go, Dog. Go! by P.D Eastman
- Election Day by Margaret McNamara
- Fancy Nancy series by Jane O’Connor
- Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant
Book ideas for early independent readers.
- Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
- Pony Scouts series by CathyHapka
- Pinky and Rex series by JamesHowe
- Fox on the Job by James Marshall
- Amelia Bedelia series by Peggy Parish
- Nate the Great series by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Early chapter book and novels for independent readers:
- Ivy + Bean series by Annie Barrows
- Flat Stanley series by JeffBrown
- Amber Brown series by Paula Danziger
- Zack Files series by Dan Greenburg
- My Weird School series by Dan Gutman
- Horrible Harry series by SuzyKline
- Stink series by Megan McDonald
- Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows
- Puppy Place series by EllenMiles
- Magic Tree House series by Mary Osborne
- Junie B. Jones series by BarbaraPark
- A to ZMysteries by RonRoy
Read books that are being adapted into movies, and compare one type of media to the other. Support reading at home by using different types of media to provide your child with aunique perspective.
Encourage your child to write thank-you notes, letters, journal entries and stories about their daily life and experiences. If your child is uncomfortable writing, suggest that he or she create acomicstrip.
Enjoy puzzles, mazes, crosswords and other games, which enable your child to build literacy skills while havingfun.
If your child is struggling with reading and writing, work with teachers to understand their approach to literacy and ask how you can help at home. Find ways to extend school literacy lessons when you’re home or out with yourchild.
Show your child that you love books, reading and writing — and that you partake in these activities everyday.
Support Reading at Home with an Early Reading Program
Early reading programs can help parents and schools support reading proficiency at an early age. These programs can augment efforts to support reading at home and can precede kindergarten or occur during school, after school or over summerbreak.
The U.S. Department of Education convened aNational Reading Panel to analyze what works and what works best in teaching children to read. The panel’s researchers found that effective early reading programs have the following components:
- explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, which teaches that words can be broken apart into smaller segments of sounds;
- systematic phonics instruction, which teaches that letters of the alphabet represent certain sounds and that these sounds can be blended together to form writtenwords;
- a focus on improving fluency, which results in students identifying words easily, reading faster and reading with greater accuracy, expression and comprehension;and
- methods to enhance reading comprehension, such as summarizing content.
The Florida Department of Education has also identified the hallmarks of agood early reading program. Attributes to look for include:
- time spent learning letters and sounds and how to blend letters and sounds;
- reading instruction and practice lasting 90minutes ormore;
- spelling practice andtests;
- school and classroom libraries stocked with books that students want to read;and
- opportunities for students to read aloud and silently eachdate.
Casey’s Role in the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
The Casey Foundation served as afounding member of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, acollaborative effort by more than 70 foundations and advocacy groups to move the needle on early literacy. The initiative calls for an integrated approach, which starts at birth and ensures children develop the social, emotional and academic skills needed to read by third grade. This grade level is considered apivot point in education, where children shift from learning to read and instead begin reading tolearn.
More on Child Literacy and Parental Involvement
- Report: Engaging Parents, Developing Leaders
- Report: Parental Involvement in Education
- Blog Post: Parental Involvement vs. Parental Engagement
- Interactive KIDS COUNT Data Book: Education in the United States
- Resource: Getting Parents Involved in Schools