KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot

Children who are proficient in reading by fourth grade are more likely to graduate from high school and to be economically successful as adults. A recent KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that although reading proficiency rates have improved over the past decade, large disparities in proficiency levels still exist between fourth-graders from low-income families and their higher-income peers. This brief report examines those disparities and offers recommendations to communities and policymakers to support early reading.