The decline of literacy rates over the past decade is a national emergency. Fewer than a third of the nation’s fourth graders had proficient reading scores last year, and the share is even lower among poor children. The causes are many, including ineffective teaching methods, misallocated spending, digital technology and long Covid-19 school closures.
As severe as the nation’s literacy problem is, it is not intractable. Effective charity can help, especially when the Trump administration is unwisely dismantling the Department of Education. First Book, a New York Times Community Fund partner, makes sure low-income school districts have access to high-quality books. Teachers who used First Book reported that their students spent more time reading and their literacy scores improved.
Consider Stevens Forest Elementary School in Columbia, Md. More than 50 percent of the school’s 330 students come from low-income households. Many are part of a Latin American immigrant community and are the first in their families to be learning English. Yet because the school is in an affluent county, its challenges are sometimes overlooked.
In 2023, her first year as the assistant principal at Stevens Forest, Casey Schurman received $500 from The New York Times Communities Fund to buy books on the First Book website. The site provides free or reduced-cost books to educators working with low-income students.
She bought books intended to excite reluctant readers. One example: “Butt or Face?,” a picture book that teaches children about animals by having readers guess which part of an animal’s body they’re looking at.
Teachers use First Book funding to build their classroom libraries and host book talks to drum up enthusiasm. Dr. Schurman said she’s seen students “cheer and run” to open the boxes of books delivered to their classroom.
First Book provides books tailored to the roughly one-fifth of Stevens Forest students who are English-language learners. One student from an immigrant family is obsessed with soccer, and she wears a Lionel Messi jersey to school every day. So Dr. Schurman ordered two versions of a picture book about him on First Book’s website — one in English for the student to read in the classroom and one in Spanish for her to read to her family at home. Both copies have become well worn.
Many students take books home, to keep reading outside the classroom. Often these are the first books they have ever called their own. One of Dr. Schurman’s former students, who lives in a multifamily home, even created her own lending library of First Book titles on her shelf in a closet. She allows family members to check out books and keeps records.
Early access to high-quality books can transform lives, improve educational outcomes and help create the next generation of curious and informed citizens. To make a meaningful investment in American education, we encourage you to consider donating to First Book through The New York Times Communities Fund.
A $45 donation to First Book provides 30 additional students with access to books and other literacy resources. Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House series, is providing $50,000 in matching funds to Communities Fund donations to First Book.
You can learn more about all of the beneficiary organizations and donate at nytcommunitiesfund.org. To donate by check, please make your check payable to The New York Times Communities Fund and send it to P.O. Box 5193, New York, N.Y. 10087.
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