THE GORGE — At age 8, it’s hard to imagine a reading test score will impact the rest of your life.
Meet Andrea. Having just started third grade in the fall, she and her friends are returning to school after Christmas break glad to be back to see friends and learning new things in the classroom.For Andrea and many of kids in the Columbia Gorge living in poverty, literacy can be an uphill climb, exacerbated by studies in the United States that show there is only one age-appropriate book available for every 300 children in low-income neighborhoods.
And time out of school from the COVID pandemic made the situation worse. In North Wasco County School District and Hood River County School District, the reading assessment proficiency level pre- and post-pandemic went from 58% to 45% — a 13% drop.
The truth is that kids who don’t read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely not to graduate from high school. Now is make or break time for Andrea.
We need your help! Sadly, as Andrea ages, it will get worse. By fourth grade, 80% of kids in need score below proficient on national reading tests. It is not too late for Andrea. Books for Kids Columbia Gorge is working to provide the books and resources that Andrea’s classroom needs to give her and her classmates the best shot at learning. Andrea and her classmates will bring the desirable books home to read and enjoy.
On Jan. 25, Books for Kids Advisory Board will be awarding 2024 book grants to literacy programs in the Columbia Gorge who work with at least 70% low-income students or are a Title 1 School.
To learn more about this local literacy effort and to donate, go to the website www.booksforkidscg.org.You will be able to choose which community (Wasco County, Hood River County, or Klickitat/Skamania counties) you want to support. You also can donate by sending a tax-deductible check to PO Box 82, The Dalles, OR 97058; PO Box 221, Hood River, OR 97031; or PO Box 34, White Salmon, WA 98672.
Any book club or business who want to share the joy of reading with children in need should contact me, Nancy Johanson Paul, at booksforkidscg.@gmail.com to become a 2024 sponsor at $100 (five children, four to five books) for the year. The collected funds will go to national First Book www.firstbook.org, where book grant book credits will be awarded by the local Books for Kids Columbia Gorge Advisory Board (formerly First Book Hood River County and Wasco County) to local literacy programs in the Columbia Gorge community.
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