This is a guest post on one of my favorite topics: children and reading! My girls adore books and the idea that this program increases a child's access to books is one that I stand behind.
How does a global education organization which creates educational alternatives impact a professional dilemma? How can the organization help solve a quandary whose solution seems elusive to America's top educational professionals? Knowledge Universe (KU), an organization which offers a wide array of materials and programs for toddlers through college age, is now influencing the reading readiness of young children throughout the world.
As part of their early reading program, KU launched a book-sharing program in 2011. The innovative program, "Read. Share. Give" was conceived as a way to encourage early reading among families. The program charted almost 15,000 "shared" books which participants logged online at the www.kindercare.com/read site.
The program enjoys tremendous success and KU was pleased by the response. David Roy, Director of Community Partnerships for KinderCare noted that KU's families and teachers were responsible for the program's resounding success. He explained that KU committed resources to the book-sharing program because research by the nonprofit Reach Out and Read organization indicates that more than 34 percent of children enter kindergarten without the skills needed to learn to read. The goal of the"Read. Share. Give" program is to address this issue by giving children increased access to books.
"Education provides the fullest opportunities for fulfilling ourselves. It is the access to all that a person has yet to learn, and that is precisely why the future belongs to the educated." Lowell Milken Co-founder Knowledge Universe.
KU celebrates the program's success by donating books to the Reach Out and Read organization in recognition of the Reach Out and Read goal of increasing young children's reading readiness skills. The KU donation will provide many families with increased access to books, both at home and at school.
(Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/3)
That 34% statistic is startling and sad.
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