WHEREAS, Across the nation, reading and literacy proficiency is at an all time low. In Philadelphia, just 15% of the city’s fourth-graders were proficient in reading and 13% in math in 2022. The School District of Philadelphia ranks fifth from the bottom in fourth-grade math and reading out of 26 large urban school districts; and
WHEREAS, Improving early literacy instruction has been a priority for the City for decades. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is given every two years, and it shows that reading achievement has hardly changed since 1998; and
WHEREAS, Literacy is fundamental to the well-being of our children and to the educational success of our city. Fostering a culture of reading not only promotes cognitive development, but critical thinking skills as well. Life-long learning becomes a habit; and
WHEREAS, Parents are starting to lose trust in the Philadelphia education system. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decrease in reading and reading comprehension city-wide. K-3 is a pivotal period for kids to learn to read, and with virtual schooling having disrupted that progress, consequences are threatening to last a lifetime. Learning to read is a stepping-stone to a lifetime of learning; and
WHEREAS, The Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) was launched in 1988 and has received millions of dollars in funding to help tackle the chasm that is our reading gap, without much success. This failure to improve further fuels the school-to-prison pipeline that our city is plagued with; and
WHEREAS, Reading improves vocabulary and comprehension, develops critical thinking skills, improves memory and analytical skills, and builds confidence; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, hereby recognizes March of 2024 as Philadelphia’s month of literacy and reading, to emphasize the importance of access to adequate instruction.
End