According to the World Literacy Foundation, around 1 in 5 people in the world are completely illiterate. That’s a very shocking statistic in 2021, but much more alarming is the knowledge that an estimated 3 billion people today struggle with basic reading and writing.
These figures have massive flow-on effects for the global economy. Workers who are not fully literate will often struggle to learn new tasks or fully perform old ones, negatively impacting productivity and leading to increased dependence on welfare or social programs due to job difficulties. Through no fault of their own, people with lower levels of literacy will often find their employment to be precarious, increasingly so as we transition into a “knowledge economy” where digital skills make literacy more immediately necessary than ever before.
Low levels of literacy also impact the extent to which people can be engaged in their community and massively limit social opportunities, as well as having detrimental impacts on things like health (both physical and emotional). They are less able to determine the source and validity of information presented to them, and much more likely to be taken advantage of by the unscrupulous as a result. What’s more, people who are themselves not fully literate are more likely to discourage their children from pursuing educational opportunities, not seeing them as important, and so a negative cycle is established.
Research has shown that early intervention is key to arresting this spiral. Early childhood is a critical stage for parents and services to facilitate learning experiences for children (Royal Children’s Hospital, 2008). Heckman (2018) found that quality early childhood programs have a 13% return rate for investment per annum as a result of improved education, health, social and economic outcomes. Investments in early childhood education, especially for those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, can lead to life-changing gains both socially and economically.
CARS & STARS Online is a reading comprehension program that can make every child an expert reader, able to derive meaning from any text and do so with high levels of reading comprehension. It provides diagnostic assessments and guided instructional lessons, while granting teachers access to detailed ongoing reports on their students’ progress throughout the program.
Learning to read is a fundamental right. Every child deserves access to the skills needed to understand, interpret and navigate the increasingly complex world they live in. What’s more, they deserve to be able to enjoy reading, and to get every benefit they can from it. Reading is part of a healthy, secure and enjoyable life – and CARS & STARS Online can be part of becoming a great reader.
If you are interested in learning more about the CARS & STARS Online subscriptions and how they can help children to achieve better results, then sign up for a free trial to be an integral part of your child’s reading success.
