What if you started every day at school feeling checked out, distracted, anxious, and behind?

When students aren’t reading at grade level, every part of their school experience suffers. Not only is reading a foundational skill for success in college and career, but it also directly impacts a student’s self-confidence and excitement about learning.

Eugene’s Churchill High School is grappling with a big challenge: students must pass reading proficiency in order to graduate, but approximately 30% of all incoming 9th graders are not reading at grade level.

A grant from EEF enabled the literacy intervention program at Churchill to fill the gap for nearly 200 struggling readers. This intensive program relies on EEF to fund new materials and books to keep these students engaged and on track. Without EEF’s support, literacy intervention programs across the district would not be able to meet the needs of their students.

“Think of an 8th grade student who is reading at the 6th, 5th, or 4th grade reading level. How would that student read and learn 8th grade level text? How would that student be able to write to demonstrate learning? Now visualize 8-12 students who will graduate from ReadRight and overcome that literacy gap due to the support that we received from EEF. EEF is critical to providing equitable opportunities for all of our students in all of our 4j schools to succeed. Thank you EEF for your support!”

-Mike Johnson, principal, Monroe Middle School, 2017