The Partnership for Children of the Foothills (PFC) launched its Read Aloud 15 Minutes a day early literacy initiative in 2017 through a partnership with the National Read Aloud 15 Minutes program.  The program is focused on helping parents understand the importance of reading aloud just 15 minutes a day in their children’s development.  Between birth and the start of preschool, children that are read to daily will hear 30 million more words than their counterparts.  A few sobering statistics include:

• Children not reading at grade level by the end of first grade are 88% likely to still be behind by fourth grade.

• Children not reading proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school.

PFC has created a resource site for parents at ReadAloudPFCFoothills.org – parents that visit the site can take a pledge to read to their children, and sign up for a monthly e-newsletter that provides them evidence based research, helpful reading tools and fun activities that they can do with their children ages birth to 5.

– submitted by Desiree Magnant