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Study: Poverty Impacts Child Literacy

morguefile.com

  

New research by the non-profit Annie E. Casey Foundation shows poverty plays a major role in whether Ohio fourth-graders can read. The foundation's Kids Count research shows the number of Ohio children not reading at grade level was 63 percent last year, but there was a 32-percent gap between low-income and higher-income children. Foundation spokesperson Dawn Wallace-Pascoe.

The foundation's Elizabeth Burke Bryant says preliminary state test results show 67 percent of black and 57 percent of Hispanic students read below grade level, compared with 37 percent of caucasian students. She notes the tests determine whether students will advance under the state's "Third Grade Reading Guarantee."

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The foundation recommends giving more attention to low-performing schools and finding ways to ensure students come to class ready to learn. The report is posted on the foundation's website (aecf.org).

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.
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