National Dyslexia Statistics

• 50% of American adults are unable to read an eighth-grade-level book.
  Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America
• It is estimated that 15% of American students may have dyslexia.
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• 44% of parents who noticed their child exhibiting signs of difficulty with learning waited a year or more before acknowledging their child might have a serious problem.
  Roper Starch Poll – Measuring Progress in Public and Parental Understanding of Learning Disabilities
• 27% of children with learning disabilities drop out of high school.
  23^rd annual Report to Congress, US Department of Education, 2001
• It is estimated that more than $2 billion is spent each year on students who repeat a grade because they have reading problems.
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• It is estimated that the cost of illiteracy to business and the taxpayer is $20 billion per year.
  United Way, "Illiteracy: A National Crisis"
• Approximately 50% of the nation’s unemployed youth age 16-21 are functionally illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• 60% of America’s prison inmates are illiterate and 85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems.
  U.S. Department of Education