Educators and researchers have long recognized the importance of
mastering reading by the end of third grade. Students who fail
to reach this critical milestone often falter in the later
grades and drop out before earning a high school diploma.
Results of a longitudinal study of nearly 4,000 students find
that those who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four
times more likely to leave school without a diploma than
proficient readers. For the worst readers, those couldn’t master
even the basic skills by third grade, the rate is nearly six
times greater. What’s more, the study shows that poverty has a
powerful influence on graduation rates. The combined effect of
reading poorly and living in poverty puts these children in
double jeopardy. The findings include: * Overall, 22 percent of
children who have lived in poverty do not graduate from high
school, compared to 6 percent of those who have never been poor.
This rises to 32 percent for students spending more than half of
their childhood in poverty. *