Texas Reads One Book

Why is Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett reading to children?

Building Stronger Schools through Family Engagement

Because he understands the value of families reading together.

Over 100,000 Texas families have already participated!

What’s the Story?Gary Anderson, who has 44 years experience in public education as a teacher and school psychologist, founded Read To Them in 2003. Time and time again, he witnessed boys who were raised in poverty disengage from academics around the third grade, and he purposed to do something about it. Anderson says...

"It’s an all-too familiar cycle.

By upper elementary and middle school, many students have started tuning out to reading, and see reading simply as work. That negative perspective about reading often leads to low literacy skills.

They scuffle through high school and emerge, if they're lucky, with a diploma. But their low literacy skills condemn them to a life of low-paying, dead-end jobs. Without a positive example and role model for reading, many children raised in poverty eventually slide out of the education process. And without a way to connect or reconnect students to the joy of reading, the low literacy cycle perpetuates itself across generations.”

- Gary Anderson, founder, Read to Them from the book Tackle Reading, edited by Kathryn Starke, published in 2017 by Creative Minds Publications

What’s the Problem?

Fact: “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading is reading aloud to children." (National Commission on Reading)

Fact: "Researchers found that reading test score growth was 50% higher for students whose teachers reported higher levels of parental outreach." (U.S. Department of Education)

Fact: “Less than half of children under age 5 are read to daily by parents/family members in the United States.” (National Survey of Children's Health)

Fact: “In virtually every state minority and low-income children are less likely to be read to every day than their non-minority and higher income peers.” (National Survey of Children's Health)

Fact: “When families participate in family literacy programs, children’s math and science achievement improve.” (Ohio Literacy Resource Center)

What’s the Solution?

Fact: The Texas Reads One Book (TROB) program engages all elementary families in a school or district to read a chapter a night of the same children’s book.jjjkkkj

Fact: Even those families that do not typically participate in school activities takepart in TROB.

"But what would happen if there was a way to help students see reading as a joy? We all know when students enjoy reading that their engagement in learning increases. As engagement in reading in learning increases, so does the likelihood of student success." - José Parra, Irving School District Superintendent, after completing two books per year, district-wide, for two years Fact: Hundreds of schools and districts—over 100,000 families — have already used TROB to harness the power of parents in helping children build the habit of reading.

RTT is in 2,000 schools, reaching 1 million families!

The Literacy EffectFact: Words and shared experiences help children grow cognitively, socially, and academically (Hart & Risley, 1995).

Fact: By age 3, children in low-income families have heard 30 million fewer words than children from affluent, professional families (Hart & Risley, 1995).

Fact: Engaging the parent-home-child connection is paramount in supporting students’ achievement (SEDL, 2002).

Fact: More than eight in 10 children (83%) across age groups say they love or like being read aloud to at home—explaining that it created a special time with parents. (Scholastic survey, 2015).

Creating a Culture of Literacy in Every Home

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Read to Them is a national family literacy non-profit 501(c)(3) based in Richmond, Virginia. RTT's mission is to create a culture of literacy in every home. Reaching families through the schools, RTT’s family literacy programs enable an entire community of readers - over 2,000 schools, over 1 million families - to read the same high quality children’s novel together. Every family, every school, every night.

Read to Them® Brings Results!Our literacy programs are now in over 2000 schools in the U.S., affecting over 1 million families.

Fact: Schools in Northumberland County, Virginia, saw pass rates on the statewide third-grade reading test increase from 60% to 90% after implementing RTT's family literacy programs.

Fact: After launching its RTT family literacy program this past year, the Little Rock School District was one of just 12 school districts in Arkansas to show consistent improvement across all grades. In particular, Grade 3 reading test scores and elementary language arts showed marked improvement.

Fact: In Watertown, New York, the percentage of families who said they read daily rose from 8% to 57% over a three-year period.

Testimonials

“Read as a family each night. You can laugh or cry with the book’s characters and share your own stories as well. We guarantee you will build lifelong memories with those you love most in your life.” - Jason Garrett, Head Coach, Dallas Cowboys

“Your program has been a big part of our turn around [in test scores], and we are already planning two titles for next year.” - Mike Poore, Superintendent, Little Rock School District, Arkansas

“We brought an excitement to reading and talking as a family about the message that books convey. Students want more and more and more books.” - Mary-Margaret Zehr, Superintendent, Oneida City School District, New York

“We all talk about needing more parent engagement, but most educators struggle with how to get parents engaged. The TROB program has given us a mechanism to show parents how they can work with their kids and help, and have it also be an enjoyable experience.” - José Parra, Superintendent, Irving Independent School District, Texas

Texas Reads One Book 2018

This year’s book isThe Mouse and the Motorcycle

Cathy Plageman is ready to help you sign up!

Be sure to sign up by... March 15th!

texasreads@readtothem.org(804) 334-5872

You’ll receive books for every student, complementary staff copies, as well as Family Literacy and Financial Literacy activities, assemblies, teacher resources

and both family and community engagment tools.

Before the kick off on... April 16th!

2201 W. Broad Street, Suite 206Richmond, VA 23220

Texas Reads One Book 2018