Reading, Family Income and Neighborhood Affect Graduation Outcomes «

Reading, Family Income and Neighborhood Affect Graduation Outcomes «:

Reading, Family Income and Neighborhood Affect Graduation Outcomes

by Irene Sege

Reading, Family Income and Neighborhood Affect Graduation Outcomes

March 15, 2012 by Irene Sege

Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has rereleased its 2011 report  “Double Jeopardy: How Poverty & Third Grade Reading Skills Influence High School Graduation,” this time adding neighborhood poverty to a list of variables that already includes third grade reading proficiency and family income.

The bottom line of the new 2012 analysis? Children who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade are four times less likely to finish high school by age 19 than children who are proficient readers. Struggling readers from families with incomes below the poverty line are 13 times less likely. Struggling readers from poor families who live in high-poverty communities are 17 times less likely.

Put another way, overall, 16% of struggling third grade readers do not finish high school by age 19, compared with 26% from poor families and 35% from