A Florida program will send Central Florida students reading below grade level free books and other reading-related activities until they graduate fifth grade.
Even though 4% more students are reading at grade level in Florida this year compared with last, 47% of third to tenth graders in the state are still reading below grade level.
Florida program New Worlds Reading wants to help by sending VPK to fifth graders reading below grade level a free book every month of the school year.
Stetson University education professor Rajni Shankar-Brown said research shows when families have the resources and support to practice reading together at home, literacy rates go up.
“Just the exposure to be able to have and hold a book to look at, you know, pictures, and start to make sense of the vocabulary, those are all part of healthy reading development and literacy development,” said Shankar-Brown.
Shankar-Brown said the stakes are too high not to offer this type of support.
“Students who don't have those literacy skills often feel inept at school, and that also affects social-emotional [development] from self esteem to feeling kind of isolated in ways, and it can really negatively impact the entire schooling experience,” said Shankar-Brown.
Learn more about the initiative here:
New Worlds Reading Interim Assistant Director Robin Gregory said it only takes a few minutes to apply and find out if your child is eligible online.
If accepted into the program, students will receive nine free books a year, through fifth grade. Books are available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and braille.
Gregory said even if it takes a bit of time to process their eligibility, families are still sent all nine books for the school year retroactively.
“We've calculated that more than a million students in the state of Florida are eligible for this program, and our goal and our vision is to encourage students to create at-home libraries and to create and instill excitement for reading, and in turn, that will affect, you know, their literacy and their performance in school,” said Gregory.
She said her favorite part of the program is that kids get to pick out which books they receive in the mail each month, which gives them some buy-in.
“It just feeds into the passion that the child has, whether they're interested in science or even math or just whatever their inclination is, we have the ability to support that and just allow them that freedom of choice,” said Gregory.
To qualify for the program, children must be a struggling reader who is either: a Florida VPK student who is not yet meeting age-appropriate standards according to FAST standards or a K-5th grader in a Florida public or district-sponsored charter school who is not yet reading on grade level.
Parents can find the online application here. Families will receive an email confirmation if they are accepted.
Here’s a full list of books that you and your family could receive:
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