Tracing all the reasons why so many students don’t learn to read is complicated, and the answer, like with many other American crises, is wrapped up in racism, classism, and a lack of resources.

It’s hard to overstate the severity of the problem of illiteracy in St. Louis.

In some city schools, fewer than 10% of students read at grade level. And it’s worse for black and brown students. White students in the City of St. Louis are more than twice as likely as black students to demonstrate reading proficiency in the third grade. It’s not just a St. Louis problem, but a nationwide one. Across America, 50 percent of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth-grade level.

Students who have low literacy skills at third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. That means they’re likely to make less money and more likely to experience poverty and other traumas in their lifetimes. Some studies even connect low literacy to incarceration.

Tracing all the reasons why so many students don’t learn to read is complicated, and the answer, like with many other American crises, is wrapped up in racism, classism, and a lack of resources. But it’s not hard to see why the problem persists. Students with low literacy become parents and caregivers with low literacy who don’t often have the know-how to support kids of their own in learning to read. Additionally, if parents are struggling to make ends meet, they aren’t likely to be able to access reliable transportation to the library or to be able to fit books into their tight budgets. If parents work several jobs, it might be hard to find time to read with their kids. And the cycle continues.

St. Louis schools struggle to remedy this problem. So what can parents do to set their students up for reading success? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Read with your children. Reading books aloud to children activates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word.
• Have books for kids accessible at home. The number of books in the home correlates significantly with higher reading scores for children.
• Enroll your child in a quality early childhood program that will help them be ready for kindergarten. If they start on track, it’s easier to stay on track.
• Access help. Navigate STL Schools collects reliable data on reading outcomes for schools in St. Louis. Set up a FREE Navigator appointment for help using the School Search Tool to gather more information. In addition, St. Louis has dozens more entities like schools, libraries, literacy nonprofits, and bookstores that work to help students read.