Los Angeles Times to Launch Program to Improve Children's Reading Skills

Posted on October 21, 1998

The Los Angeles Times has announced a program to help Southern California children achieve grade-level reading skills by the time they reach the age of nine. The program, called Reading by 9, was announced in the Los Angeles Times in a front-page message from Mark H. Willes, publisher of The Times and chairman and chief executive officer of Times Mirror, the newspaper's parent company, and Michael Parks, editor and executive vice president of The Times.

Reading by 9 will address the growing number of children who haven't learned how to read competently by age nine. About two-thirds of third-graders in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties failed to achieve grade-level reading last spring, according to the California State Department of Education. Research shows that those children are likely to be poor readers their whole lives, and, as a result, face a lifetime of hardship, humiliation and often poverty.

"The evidence is very compelling that illiteracy is at the root of many of the most daunting challenges facing our society," Willes said. "The best, perhaps only, way to take on an initiative of this magnitude is by working together with partners from every field and discipline. We have both an opportunity and an obligation to leave a legacy of literacy for future generations of Southern Californians."

News and feature coverage in The Times will focus public attention on early literacy--the extent of the problems and possible solutions. Willes is also inviting partners from business, education, government, media and civic organizations to join The Times in what he calls "an urgent and massive effort to improve our children's reading skills and improve their -- and our -- chances for future success." The Times has made a minimum commitment of five years to Reading by 9, which will involve virtually every division of the company and an investment of resources and cash by the company of more than $5 million.