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Feature

Childhood Illiteracy —
A Public Health Crisis

By Kimberly Lewis, MD, Pediatric Resident, Carolinas Medical Center

C harlotte, like many other cities in the United States, is in             Children from low-income families are exposed to 30 million
               the midst of a crisis. A 2013 Harvard study evaluating    fewer words by age 3 than children from wealthier families. This
               socioeconomic mobility, ranked some of America’s          leads to a dramatic difference in the child’s vocabulary. One in
               largest cities by the likelihood that a child born into   three low-income families have no books in the home.2 These
poverty in that city could rise to a higher quintile of income during    children essentially are in a state of educational starvation during
his or her lifetime.1 Among the 50 cities included in the study,         some of the most important years for brain development. Failure
Charlotte ranked 50th, suggesting that, despite the ongoing growth in    to attain early childhood literacy has lifelong social and economic
population, industry, housing and banking in Charlotte, low-income       impacts that often extend to future generations. Poor reading skills
families have yet to see the economic benefits. The American dream       in third grade are a significant risk factor for dropping out of high
does not exist for them, because no matter how hard they work, their     school, as reading skills remain poor.3 Failure to graduate from
efforts rarely translate to financial success and freedom.               high school has major implications that can significantly impact
                                                                         a child’s life trajectory. Those who do not complete high school
   In response to these findings, in 2015 a group of 20 community        are much more likely to be jobless, and those with jobs have
members created the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task               incomes about half that of their peers with high school diplomas.
Force to find the factors affecting the paucity of opportunity facing    Female high school dropouts are nine times more likely to become
Charlotte’s low-income families. Its findings revealed several           single mothers when compared to those with bachelor’s degrees.
interrelated factors that affect family access to opportunities,         Furthermore, those without a high school diploma have a 63 times
including early child care and education, college and career             higher rate of incarceration when compared to those who attended a
readiness, and child and family stability (leadingonopportunity.org).    four-year university.4

   As a resident physician, I have spent my entire life thus far in        While the breadth and depth of this problem is overwhelming,
                                 some form of school or educational      small interventions can make a huge difference. Several
                                      training. Therefore, education as  organizations in Charlotte accepted the challenge to solve this crisis.
                                         a determinant and predictor     In 2014, the group now called Read Charlotte organized with the
                                           of future opportunity piqued  goal of doubling the number of Charlotte’s third-graders reading on
                                             my interest. Low-income     grade level from 40 percent to 80 percent by 2025. Four essential
                                             families often cannot       pillars guide their work. The first two pillars aim to support children
                                             afford high-quality         through kindergarten. The second two pillars focus on all school-age
                                             child care.                 children. Their website (www.readcharlotte.org) is full of suggested
                                                                         reading lists for children and tips for creating a language- and
                                                                         literature-rich environment at home.

                                                                           1 Where is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of
                                                                         Intergenerational Mobility in the United States. Raj Chetty,
                                                                         Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline and Emmanuel Saez. Harvard
                                                                         University, 2013.

                                                                           2 Promoting Family Literacy Through the Five Pillars of Family
                                                                         and Community Engagement (FACE), Nai-Cheng Kuo, School

                                                                           Community Journal, 2016, Vol 26, No.1.

                                                                                3 KIDS COUNT Report, Early Warning! Why Reading by the
                                                                             End of Third Grade Matters, Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010.

                                                                              4 The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School:
                                                                           Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High

                                                                             Cost for Taxpayers, Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada and
                                                                             Joseph McLaughlin, 2009.

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