Better Reading can Deliver Confidence, Educational, Career and Life Opportunities
The tech-for-good nonprofit Readability Matters is on a mission to improve reading outcomes. Recent research demonstrated that students achieved an average increase of 20% in the speed of accurate comprehension by using personalized reading formats. Adults can improve their reading speed by as much as 10 pages per hour.
Typographical features of the text are critical; they meaningfully impact fluency, comprehension and engagement. Recent research demonstrated that students achieved an average increase of 20% in the speed of accurate comprehension. Adults can improve their reading speed by as much as 10 pages per hour. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, offering personalized reading formats results in more proficient readers. Better readability improves literacy and is the gateway to enhanced learning.
Education overall and reading, in particular, have long been the basis for both economic stability and economic mobility. Yet, there are high numbers of non-proficient readers of all ages in the US and an over-representation of marginalized populations in special education. A simple change to text format may break the cycle, expand educational potential, increase learning in academic contexts, and create more economic opportunity.
Reading success creates more motivation to read, which creates more learning and the virtuous cycle repeats. Greater reading confidence can generate more success as students identify themselves as “good readers.” Many more students may go further in the education system when reading experiences are improved.
Thanks to the generous support of our partners and donors like you, Readability Matters is able to ignite research, expand technology offerings, and bring personalized reading to the mainstream. Personalized reading solutions can instantly improve reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension.
When we invest in raising individual reading performance, everyone benefits.
Shocking but true facts
Only 1/3 of the population are proficient readers. “Relative reading ability is unlikely to change after 4th grade. Poor readers in 8th grade remain poor readers in 12th. (US Dept of Education)
Low adult literacy is costing the US $2.2 Trillion per year. (Barbara Bush Foundation, Gallup Poll – read more)
COVID-19 has wiped out 20 years of education gains. (United Nations)
The pandemic has erased 2 decades of progress in reading (NAEP – read more)
ABOUT Giving Tuesday: GivingTuesday.org celebrates the 10th Anniversary of inspired global giving this year. Ten years ago, GivingTuesday started as a simple idea–encouraging people to do good. Today, it has grown into a global movement that has inspired hundreds of millions of people to volunteer, donate and give back to their local and global communities. This unparalleled generosity has helped make the world a better place.