Michelle Rhee, the former Superintendent of the Washington D.C. Schools has just launched a movement to reform the public schools in this country. (www.studentsfirst.org) The statistics on this website state that one in three fourth graders in this country are scoring below basic proficiency in reading and 67% of these are low income families.
In South Dakota, recent reports have shown that 60% of the seniors graduating are not proficient readers! As 85% of juvenile offenders have literacy issues, I would like to take a moment to ask that we begin to do join Michelle Rhee and do something right here and now in our own community.
The National Institute of Health has stated that one in five Americans have dyslexia. That is an incredibly high number! The National Reading Panel has stated that these children must have an intensified reading program to help them to reach potential and read at grade level. These programs are often expensive and cannot reach low to moderate income families.
Through the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation, the Links to Literacy Scholarship provides opportunities for low to moderate income families to get the intensified reading instruction that they need. Students who receive this scholarship are given one-on-one instruction at South Dakota's only research-based dyslexia clinic.
If you are interested in donating to this worthy cause, you may send checks made out to Links to Literacy to Excel Achievement Center, or you may mail them directly to the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation.
This is the perfect time of year to be giving to the children in this community. I encourage us all to begin to make a difference today!
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