What We Do

teacher reading a book to a student in a library

The Challenge

Our partnering schools face many challenges due to the correlation between poverty and literacy. The demands on educators are increasing while books and students’ time devoted to reading practice is decreasing. We believe that reading is an academically critical practice and technology facilitates schools’ ability to foster literacy growth.

< 50%

Less than half of all 4th, 8th and 12th grade students in the U.S. are proficient readers.

82%

82% of teachers say students should read independently for at least twenty minutes a day.

62%

62% of children from lower-income homes have limited access to books, a major reason that they lag behind in reading achievement throughout the school years.

Our Approach

We partner with schools to track student independent reading progress and mastery of state learning standards. Our principal focus is the provision of literature, technology, and education software solutions. We provide partnering schools with premiere in-person professional development and coaching to succeed in program implementation and foster student literacy growth.

Collaborate

We collaborate with school specialists to identify the literacy needs of students, providing books, computers, and software to optimize reading practice and literacy growth.

Supporting Educators

We deliver engaging and interactive professional development to deepen school staff knowledge of formative and periodic assessment software data and best practices for independent reading.

Resources

We develop and provide program support materials for school staff and monitor student participation and performance to catalyze purposeful instructional change and student reading development.

Our Impact

We strive to cultivate robust cultures of literacy by providing educators with the guidance and tools they need to implement data-driven instruction and blended learning practices. Our hope is to reach beyond the classroom to impact literacy school-wide.

40,000

Students served

6,000

Educators supported

1.2M

Books read 2018-2019

About Grantmaking

Beyond the Carmel Hill Fund Education Program, we provide grants to nonprofits that help develop voracious readers and support adolescent mental health.

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