Saint John Common Council has been told you first learn to read and then you read to learn but too many people in the province have sub par reading skills and that doesn’t bode well for New Brunswick’s economic future.
Achieve Literacy Greater Saint John points out 56 per cent of annglophone adults and 64 per cent of francophone adults in the province are reading below level 3 which is required to understand a training manual.
Research over the long term shows 60 per cent of children who don’t read at grade level by the second grade will wind up on social assistance as adults.
The goal of the literacy group is to have 90 per cent of grade two students reading at grade level.
