LITERACY LAB
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : k**********i@t************b.o*g
Mission Statement
Founded on the core belief that literacy is a human right, The Literacy Lab provides children from low-income families with individualized reading instruction to improve their literacy skills, leading to greater success in school and increased opportunities in life.
About This Cause
The Literacy Lab believes that literacy is a human right and the foundation of education. In Pre-K through third grade, the curriculum is heavily focused on learning to read. However, by fourth grade, the curriculum shifts to using reading to learn. According to the Minnesota Reading Corps, almost 74% of children who read poorly in third grade continue to read poorly in high school. Third-grade reading proficiency is a key predictor of high school drop-out rates. The Literacy Lab seeks to disrupt and reverse the current ineffective learning cycle that disproportionately impacts Black and Latine communities by providing targeted, high-dosage intervention in early education. We partner with school districts to help close the literacy gap largely by embedding rigorously-trained tutors in early childhood centers and elementary schools. The Literacy Lab was co-founded by Co-CEOs Tom Dillon and Ashley Johnson in 2009 in response to the challenges that Ashley saw in her own classroom as a high school special education teacher for District of Columbia Public Schools. The Literacy Lab began by offering after-school reading tutoring to children in Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA. In 2012 The Literacy Lab was selected as a national replication partner for the Reading Corps model. In 2016, the organization launched the Leading Men Fellowship with the additional goal of getting more men of color into early childhood education. The Literacy Lab works to address the immediate need of literacy gaps for early learners in under-resourced schools while address the long-term need for a more racially diverse teacher pipeline. Today, under the leadership of Dr. Heather Jenkins, The Literacy Lab serves students and communities in six target regions: Metro DC; Central and Tidewater VA; Baltimore, MD; Western MA; Kansas City, MO; and Milwaukee, WI. The organization is expanding in the 2022-23 academic year with new programs in Atlanta, GA and Phoenix, AZ.