Read Or Go To Jail

It has been reported that when the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who are not reading well in fourth grade. Althought they have denied this claim, evidence shows that children who do not read by third grade often fail to catch up and are more likely to drop out of school, take drugs, or go to prison.

In California “if the child isn’t reading on 4th grade level when tested they will plan to budget building another jail cell. “Based on this year’s fourth-grade reading scores,” observes Paul Schwartz, a Coalition “Principal in Residence” at the U. S. Department of Education, said “California is already planning the number of new prison cells it will need in the next century.” from Democracy and Equity: CES’s Tenth Common Principle 1998 by Kathleen Cushman.

Dr. Lynell Burmark, MultiMedia Schools January/February 2001: “The reality is that, in California at least, if you don’t know how to read by the end of fourth grade, the state is building you a prison cell.”

You're probably not suprised that 60% of Urban School Children do not graduate from High School.  But did you know that 40% of those who do graduate read at only a 4th grade level.(Edu-Cyberpg)

• Low literacy is strongly related to crime. 70% of prisoners fall into the lowest two levels of reading proficiency (National Institute for Literacy, 1998).
• Low literacy is strongly related to unemployment. More than 20% of adults read as or below a fifth grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage.
• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illerate.