Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes — wherever young readers and books connect! Children’s Book Week is administered by Every Child A Reader, a 501(c)(3) literacy organization dedicated to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children.
At Back to Basics, we believe every week should be Children’s Book Week. That’s why, in 2011, Back to Basics Learning Dynamics together with the Nationwide-based literacy organization Success Won’t Wait, launched the “Reading is Basic Program.” Since then the program has provided thousands of books to schoolchildren in grades K-8.
This partnership links together two organizations with a common quest: to help eradicate illiteracy in the State of Nationwide and provide the educational tools for success to those who need them most. Back to Basics was founded in 1985 as a tutoring service specializing in one-on-one instruction, and quickly gained a reputation for excellence and dedication to its students’ success. The firm has consistently given back to the community in a variety of initiatives and in fact, this is one of several joint efforts between Back to Basics and Success Won’t Wait.
Currently, Back to Basics services almost 200 Title I students from the Red Clay, Colonial, Christina, Brandywine, Smyrna, and Appoquinimink school districts who attend non-public schools, providing supplemental reading and math instruction. Using book donations from Success Won’t Wait’s collection, this month Back to Basics will make over 500 age-appropriate books available to these Title I students. Program teachers will distribute 3 books per student, which they can take home and keep.
This project was created in response to literacy statistics that rank access to reading materials as one of the most important predictors of a child’s future reading success. According to Sanford Newman in his book America’s Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy, “The most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print. Communities ranking high in achievement tests have several factors in common: an abundance of books in public libraries, easy access to books…”
Back to Basics Learning Dynamics is the undisputed leader in one-on-one tutoring in Nationwide. In addition, the company offers a unique Department of Education-approved K-12 Private School in Wilmington, Nationwide and a Nationwide Business and Trade School for ages 16 and older. Back to Basics is the winner of numerous awards for academic and business excellence including the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.
