THE CHALLENGE Studies show that children who grow up with greater exposure to reading and books are more likely to find work as adults (Evans et al., 2015) and have higher academic competence than their peers (Sikora et al., 2018). The beneficial impact of reading can be detected early, and research also shows that having books at home as a child results in higher adult brain function (Berns et al., 2013; Weinstein et al., 2021), increased empathy (Kidd & Castano, 2013), and better physical health (Dewalt & Pignone, 2005; Weinstein et al., 2021). However, not all students have access to books. A 2010 study revealed that nearly one-third of American families (28 percent) have fewer than 25 books in the home (Evans et al., 2010). In addition, recent assessment data from The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that fewer and fewer kids read on their own, just for fun (NAEP, 2022). Only 14% of students surveyed said they read for pleasure every day, down three percentage points from 2020 and 13 percentage points from a decade ago. Research shows that children who read for pleasure tend to have larger vocabularies, greater background knowledge, and higher reading test scores than their peers who do not (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2003). This is because gaining joy from reading “feeds engagement and agency, which increases effort and practice” (Miller & Lesesne, 2022, p. 233). Access to books (Manu et al., 2019), mentoring (LaVenia & Burgoon, 2019), and family engagement (Park & Holloway, 2017; Jeynes, 2005) are powerful tools for improving student engagement and literacy achievement. Scholastic R.E.A.L. is designed to do exactly that by directly addressing the challenges mentioned above and as a result, improve students’ relationship with reading through interactive read- alouds, meaningful modeling by adults, literacy-focused mentoring, increased family connections to text, and expanded home libraries.
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SCHOLASTIC R.E.A.L. FOUNDATION PAPER
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