Recap of Listen Fest 2011
- Literacy
- Music
- Film
2-cent brings you a fun outdoor festival with a purpose. Listen! is an event put on by collection of young people using literacy and art to address the issues facing the community.It's this generation's opportunity to use their talents in literary arts, music, visual arts,and film to inspire change. We feel an urgent need to focus on the violence and theeducation crisis. This is an opportunity for the youth to come together in a collective voice. All we ask is that the city come and listen.
Important Statistics About Reading
Student Reading achievement facts
Only one-third of all students entering high school are proficient in reading – only about 15 percent of African American students, and 17 percent of Hispanic students. (NAEP Reading_2009)
Two thirds of eighth graders do not read at grade level (proficient). (NAEP Reading_2009)
There is a significant economic reading gap for students: only 16 percent of Urban low-income, at-risk students are proficient in reading, compared to 42 percent middle income students.
What happens if kids don't learn to read and read well
The Coalition for Juvenile Justice (2001) reports that 82 percent of prison inmates are high school dropouts, and a very high proportion of them cannot read. (Adolescent Literacy: A National Reading Crisis)
More than one third of all juvenile offenders read below the fourth-grade level. (Adolescent Literacy: A National Reading Crisis)
Every school day in America, 3,000 students drop out—the majority of them are poor readers. Students with below grade level reading skills are twice as likely to drop out of school as those who can read on or above grade level. (Adolescent Literacy: A National Reading Crisis)
Forecasts show that by 2018, 63 percent of all jobs will require at least some postsecondary education. Employers will need 22 million new workers with postsecondary degrees – and the report shows that we will fall short by three million workers without a dramatic change in course. This translates into a deficit of 300,000 college graduates every year between now and 2018. (Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce)
Forecasters have predicted that if static literacy levels continue, then by 2030 the entire Literacy Level distribution of the U.S. population will have decreased, creating an American workforce that is unequipped and unskilled to work in the demanding global market. (Educational Testing Service)
It was estimated that a single state's employers will have to pay almost $40 million a year to provide remedial training in reading, writing, and mathematics to its employees if the current trends in secondary school preparation continue. (Achieve, Inc.)
The United States placed 16th out of 21 OECD (Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development) countries surveyed for high school graduation rates. (Educational Testing Service)
What happens when kids who can't read become adults who can't read
Among adults at the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 43% live in poverty. Among adults with strong literacy skills, only 4% live in poverty. (First Book)
Low literacy costs $73 billion per year in terms of direct health care costs. This is equal to the amount Medicare pays for physician services, dental services, home health care, drugs, and nursing home care combined. (The National Center for Family Literacy)
One in every 100 U.S. adults 16 and older is in prison or jail in America (about 2.3 million in 2006). About 43 percent do not have a high school diploma or equivalent and 56 percent have very low literacy skills. (The National Center for Family Literacy)
If the male graduation rate were increased by only 5 percent, the nation would see an annual savings of $4.9 billion in crime-related costs. (Alliance for Excellent Education)
The average annual income for a high school dropout in 2005 was $17,299, compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate, a difference of $9,634. (Alliance for Excellent Education)
If the students who dropped out of the Class of 2009 had graduated, the nation's economy would have benefited from nearly $335 billion in additional income over the course of their lifetimes. (Alliance for Excellent Education)
There is a distinct correlation between the Literacy Levels (1-5, 5 being the highest literacy level) and participation in the workforce. While only 49% of Level 1 adults report being active in the workforce, in comparison 77% of adults in Level 3 and 91% of adults in Level 5 are participating in the workforce. (2005) (Educational Testing Service)
What a difference reading makes
Children who grow up in homes where books are plentiful go further in school than those who don't. Children with low-education families can do as well as children with high-education families if they have access to books at home. (Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations)
When children are provided with 10 to 20 self-selected children's books at the end of the regular school year, as many as 50 percent not only maintain their skills, but actually make reading gains. (Bridging the Summer Reading Gap, by Anne McGill-Franzen and Richard Allington)
Ensuring that books are available to any child at any time of the year will be a good first step in enhancing the reading achievement of low-income students and an absolutely necessary step in closing the reading achievement gap. (Ameliorating summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged elementary students, Richard Allington, April 2007)
If a child reads as much as one million words per year, they will be in top 2% of all children on standardized reading tests. If a child reads as little as 8000 words per year, they will be in bottom 2% of all children on standardized reading tests. Therefore, if you read 3,000 words every day you will be in the top 2%. If you read 20 words every day, you will be in the bottom 2%. (Allington—link TBD)
Children in classrooms without literature collections read 50% less than children in classrooms with such collections. (International Reading Association).
Studies have proven that increased family engagement in educational programs is linked with increases in child reading achievement and other academic successes (such as high school graduation rates.) (Pre-K Now)
What's happening around the globe
In 2006, UNESCO reported that there are still 132 million young people worldwide that are unable to communicate in a written language. (UNESCO)
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there is an estimated 774 million illiterate adults in the world, in which 64% are women. (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
From 2001 to 2006, 8 countries have recorded an increase in their average reading literacy scores, 6 reported decreases. And the U.S. and other remaining countries reported no change. (National Center for Education Statistics)
Around the world, 775 million adults are illiterate. (UNESCO)
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