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RIF Talking Points
1. What does RIF do?
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Helps young people discover the joy of reading.
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Gets kids reading.
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Works to build a literate nation, one child at a time.
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Helps young children want to read.
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Helps youngsters read often and well.
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Gives children a chance to grow up reading.
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Gives young people a chance to become lifelong readers and learners.
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Provides access to books and the motivation to read them.
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Works with local volunteers to make books available to children.
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Provides motivational reading activities and books to children.
2. What does RIF provide children?
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Books to choose, own, take home, read, and enjoy with their families. Adult-led activities to awaken and nurture a desire to read.
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Parental and community involvement to support childrens ongoing reading development.
3. What did RIF volunteers say about RIF in a national survey?
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100 percent said RIF increases the amount of time children read.
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100 percent said RIF improves childrens attitudes toward reading and learning.
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99 percent said RIF helps increase childrens reading skills and scores on achievement tests.
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98 percent said RIF increases childrens use of the library.
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97 percent said RIF increases parental involvement in childrens reading.
4. Why is the RIF program so successful?
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RIF provides key elements that dozens of major studies identify as critical to childrens reading development, including books in the home, parental involvement, leisure reading (reading for fun), motivation to read, and encouraging children to read early and often.
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A study by the General Research Corporation for the U.S. Department of Education noted that RIF coordinators said RIF represented the only source of books that most children had in their homes; RIF had a beneficial impact on school-community and school-parent relations; and RIF stimulated greater parent involvement in childrens reading activities.
5. How urgent is the challenge to create a nation of readers?
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More than 40 million people in the United States20 percent of the adult populationread at the lowest level of literacy. U.S. Department of Education, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS).
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One of every three job applicants tested in 1995 by major U.S. companies lacked sufficient reading skills to perform the jobs they sought. American Management Association survey, 1996.
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An adult with poor literacy skills earns about $400 less per week than an adult with excellent literacy skills. Adult Literacy in America: A First Look at the National Adult Literacy Survey, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, 1993.
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60 percent of American high school seniors cannot read at the level they should, yet 89 percent of the jobs now being created require much higher levels of literacy. 1994 Reading Report Card for the Nation, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), U.S. Department of Education, 1996. Job statistic: State of American Education Address by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, 1996.
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75 percent of fourth-grade students read below fourth-grade level. 1994 Reading: A First Look, National Center for Education Statistics, 1994.
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60 percent of fourth-graders watch three to six hours of television each day, yet only 46 percent report reading for fun on a daily basis. 1994 Reading Assessment, NAEP, U.S. Department of Education, 1996.
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Every child, to be educationally successful, needs a language-rich environment, one in which adults speak...listen...and read aloud every day. Ready to Learn: A Mandate for the Nation, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1991.
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Only half (of young children) are routinely read to by their parents... Starting Points, Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, 1994.
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