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One of the most critical problems facing our country today is functional illiteracy. Our standard of living and our country's ability to compete in a global economy are jeopardized when too many citizens are unable to read well or at all. Poor readers are quickly marginalized in our ever more competitive society - a problem that particularly plagues the District of Columbia.
According to a Washington Post article of March 19, 2007, "The State of Adult Literacy Report found that nearly 36 percent, or 170,000, of the District's residents are functionally illiterate, compared with 21 percent nationally."
The problem, of course, begins in schools and homes. For example:
- The District's 4th and 8th graders scored last in the nation on the writing section of the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, popularly known as "The Nation's Report Card."
- Those same Washington 4th and 8th graders also performed worse than any other state in the reading section of the 2005 Nation's Report Card.
In the United States, the typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of picture book reading time. However, a low-income child, like most of those in DC schools, averages just 25 hours.
The EW!DC program, now in its 12th year, is designed to help change all of this. The love of reading and the growth of self-esteem that results from the one-on-one relationship of a caring mentor and an eager child is the essence of our unique approach to the problem of illiteracy in our community.
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