Parker & Covert LLP is proud to support National Book Month this October. As a full-service law firm that serves educational agencies exclusively, we value the educational mission of all school administrators, teachers, and employees throughout the state of California.  With this in mind, Parker & Covert will be making contributions to two charities which are making a difference to improve literacy in our schools, in hopes to highlight their efforts. In the coming weeks, we will also be featuring several of our attorneys who will share some of their favorite books and experiences regarding the practice of education law.

First, the Literacy Project (https://www.linkedin.com/company/literacy-project-foundation/about/) is a non-profit organization with the mission to enable at-risk and disadvantaged youth to increase their reading skill levels and to become self-sufficient, productive, and contributing members of our society.  The Literacy Project addresses illiteracy at its earliest stage by teaching at-risk second-graders how to read.

Second, Parker & Covert is also supporting Book First (https://www.saclibrary.org/Education/Students-Educators/Book-First), a partnership with the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library.  Started in 2016, the Book First program provides a free book to first-grade students throughout Sacramento County at publicly funded schools with a 50% or higher free- or reduced-price school lunch eligibility.

The following statistics on literacy underscore the critical need to address literacy in the United States:

• Currently, 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate and cannot read above a fifth-grade level
• 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth-grade level
• 57% of students failed the California Standards Test in English
• 1/3 of fourth-graders reach the proficient reading level
•   25% of students in California school systems are able to perform basic reading skills
• 85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading
• 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can't read
• 3 out of 4 people on welfare can't read

It is our continuing privilege to work with educators who make a difference in the lives of our future leaders. We hope to continue to support our learning communities in every way we can.