Children, Summer and Books

School — and life — can be tough for poor readers. A new $200 million program is helping UF spread the joy of the written word.

A child, a book and a flashlight, a common bedtime scene.

For some parents, it means bedtime rebellion. In the Duggins household, it’s a sign of a book too good to put down and a child who loves to read.

“I’ll walk in and say, ‘let’s just turn on the lights and read a few pages together,’” says Shaunté Duggins, associate director of New Worlds Reading at the UF’s Lastinger Center for Learning.

Duggins would love it if all children were this excited about books, and that’s at the heart of her mission with New Worlds Reading. The $200 million program passed the Florida Legislature unanimously in 2021, and it puts a new book each month into the hands of struggling readers in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

The program is designed to address alarming statistics:

• 88% of people who don’t graduate from high school were struggling readers in the third grade.
• Nationwide, only 34% of fourth graders are proficient in reading; in Florida, only 38% are.
• Research has found that students who are identified as poor readers by the end of their first-grade year rarely obtain even average reading ability.

In the critical elementary school years, Duggins points out, students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, making reading the foundation of their education and their success in life.

That success starts with books, and through New Worlds Reading, students can build at-home libraries of books that interest them — art, animals, humor, nature, STEM, for example. The program matches their interests to books by Scholastic, UF’s publishing partner, and each month a new book shows up in their mailbox. The package includes resources based on UF’s research in the science of reading to help parents support the child, but the package is addressed to the child, building excitement around reading.

“Parents tell us the kids are super excited to get this package in the mail, to the point that one mother told us her daughters wanted her to track the package,” Duggins says. “When it arrives, they race to the mailbox and rip the package open and dive into the book. It’s special, and reading should be.”

Duggins says caregivers are a child’s first and most important teacher, so home-based reading plays a huge role in extending school-day skills.

“Young children benefit when parents model reading practices and actually engage them in literacy activities,” Duggins said. “That gives them a more positive view about reading. And when they read for pleasure, they have a higher reading achievement.”

Children in public or publicly chartered schools are eligible, and books come in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and braille. Since the program started in December 2021, more 3.9 million books have been mailed to more than 260,000 students.

The legislation for New Worlds Reading was championed by then-House Speaker Chris Sprowls and includes designating the program a Scholarship Funding Organization, meaning corporate taxpayers can receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for monetary contributions to New Worlds Reading, ensuring a perpetual funding stream.

“If a child can read, they can learn,” said Sprowls. “If they can learn, then anything is possible.” To Sign Up – Click here[endnote]