B'More, Read More (An initiative of the Baltimore Campaign for Grade Level Reading is a collaborative group of funders, nonprofits, and public organizations working to increase literacy scores for Baltimore City third graders by 100% by 2020. This is important because we know that children who are successful readers by the end of third grade are much more likely to succeed in school than those who
are not: they are less likely to repeat a grade, more likely to graduate from high school, and more likely to attend college. Third grade is an important marker for children because before third grade students are learning to read and after they are reading to learn. The most recent analyses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that only 34 percent of America’s fourth graders were proficient readers, and that significant differences in reading proficiency exist among students in different socioeconomic and racial groups. Nationwide, only 20 percent of low-income and 17 percent of African-American fourth graders achieved a proficient score on the NAEP reading exam released in 2013. In Baltimore, the numbers were even more concerning: only 14 percent of fourth graders were found to be proficient or advanced readers by the NAEP standards. Among low-income children, only 11 percent scored proficient or above. Baltimore ranked 16th out of 21 cities who participated in the NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment in 2013. Only 2 percent of Baltimore City Public Schools students scored at the advanced level, 12 percent at the proficient level, 31 percent at the basic level and 55 percent below basic. It is with these numbers in mind that the Campaign seeks to be a driving force behind raising the amount of Baltimore City third graders who are proficient or advanced readers.
