Help 10 families experience the joy of reading!

Raising A Reader MA is an evidence-based early literacy organization that helps families of young children (newborn through age 5) develop, practice, and maintain habits of reading with their young children at home. Our core program model, which both increases access to books and offers families tools and supports for strengthening the culture of reading at home, is driven by 25 years of research that show the most significant factor impacting a child’s academic success is being regularly read to by a parent or other primary adult caregiver before starting kindergarten. In fact, research has shown that a family's active participation in their child's education is twice as predictive of academic learning as the family's socioeconomic status. Our goal is to end the cycle of low literacy by helping families across Massachusetts develop high-impact home reading routines that lay the groundwork for a lifetime of learning, success, and productive, responsible citizenship.

35% of children enter kindergarten unprepared to learn, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This gap persists into third grade, where statewide standardized test data tells us that 39% of Massachusetts third graders do not meet proficiency standards for reading. This figure jumps to 60% for low income children. Raising A Reader MA is closing the achievement gap in strategically selected, high-need communities by delivering the following services to children and families:

1. Our signature red bag book rotation program, which makes dozens of high quality culturally appropriate books accessible to children and families every year.

2. Multilingual DVDs, workshops, and peer and professional support services that educate parents in Interactive Reading strategies and their impact on pre-literacy development (like vocabulary, letter awareness, phonics and oral expression).

3. Training and support for early education providers in strategies for reinforcing the family’s role in children’s literacy development through storytelling, book sharing and other activities.

Help us in our efforts to ensure that no child is left behind.