Read your way through National Literacy Month

(CNN) — September is National Literacy Month.

According to the National Literacy Institute, about 21% of adults in the US are illiterate, and 54% read below a sixth grade level.

In some cases, those adults were born in other non-English speaking countries.

Poverty also plays a role, since economically disadvantaged school districts (and economically disadvantaged students) don’t always get the extra reading instruction they need.

But even the way we teach children to read in schools can impact their literacy skills.

Many educators and literacy organizations now want to focus on science-based instruction, with an emphasis on teaching phonics. They believe years of promoting other methods of instruction – styles that taught kids to memorize words and look at pictures, but de-emphasized phonics drills – have been less succcessful than phonics-based techniques.

Encouraging kids to love books by reading them stories has never gone out of style. Parents, grandparents and family friends can all help create young bibliophiles by instilling an early love of books and reading.

So read to the children in your life. Consider volunteering to help others learn to read. And, this National Literacy Month, consider donating to one of these organizations working around the world to improve people’s lives by teaching them to read.

You can donate by using the form below or clicking here.

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