For Other Professionals
Recommended links
Literacy-Based Organizations
Clicking on a link below will take you to the organization's web site.
826 National is a nonprofit tutoring, writing, and publishing organization with locations in seven cities across the country. Our goal is to assist students ages six to eighteen with their writing skills, and to help teachers get their classes excited about writing. Our work is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. Writer Dave Eggers is the co-founder of 826 Valencia, the flagship center in San Francisco.
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
The Barbara Bush Foundation supports literacy efforts across the country where parents and children can learn to read together.
Using Book Adventure, young readers not only receive the intrinsic satisfaction of reading a book and demonstrating their comprehension through short quizzes, but also earn rewards for reading and demonstrating comprehension of the books they've read.
Bookshare, the world's largest accessible digital library for people with print and learning disabilities (such as dyslexia), provides free membership to qualified U.S. schools and students, thanks to an award from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education. Get access to more than 43,000 digital books, textbooks and teacher-recommended readings to help your child succeed and enjoy reading independently.
Center for the Book (Library of Congress)
On behalf of books and reading, the Center for the Book serves as an advocate, a catalyst, and a source of ideas — both nationally and internationally. Its major themes and projects are reading and literacy promotion, the role of books and reading in today's society, the international role of books, the recognition and celebration of America's literary heritage, and the history of books and print culture.
The Children's Book Council is a non-profit trade organization dedicated to encouraging literacy and the use and enjoyment of children's books since 1945. The CBC sponsors Young People's Poetry Week and National Children's Book Week each year.
Colorín Colorado is a bilingual web site that provides information, activities, and advice on helping children learn to read and succeed at school. Developed by the Reading Rockets project, Colorín Colorado features practical information for Spanish-speaking parents, beautiful illustrations from Caldecott Award-winning illustrator David Diaz, video clips of celebrities such as the late beloved Celia Cruz, and skill-building activities that draw upon Spanish-language songs and rhymes.
Even Start works to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities of the Nation's low-income families by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program.
First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and to own their first new books. The primary goal of First Book is to work with existing literacy programs to distribute new books to children who, for economic reasons, have little or no access to books.
In2Books, the largest nonprofit literacy program in Washington, DC, helps students become successful readers, writers, and thinkers through a combination of challenging work for students and literacy professional development for their teachers.
International Children's Digital Library
An online library whose goal is to collect and make available the best historical and contemporary children's books from around the world, in their original language.
Looking for more than just a movie? This fun website pairs a recommended kids movie with similar family adventures within your community. You'll find helpful information about the movie, conversation starters, and bits of wisdom about planning a successful family outing. The offer a free weekly newsletter than will keep you inspired.
National Center for Learning Disabilities
The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) works to ensure that the nation's 15 million children, adolescents, and adults with learning disabilities have every opportunity to succeed in school, work, and life. NCLD provides essential information to parents, professionals and individuals with learning disabilities, promotes research and programs to foster effective learning, and advocates for policies to protect and strengthen educational rights and opportunities.
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) at The Library of Congress
Find audio, braille, and print/braille books for preschool through grade 8 in the NLS catalog. Materials are circulated to eligible borrowers in the U.S. through a national network of cooperating libraries.
The Parent-Child Home Program (formerly the Mother-Child Home Program) is a proven, innovative home-based literacy and parenting program serving families challenged by poverty, low-levels of education, language barriers and other obstacles to educational success.
Parent education and readiness program supporting parent education and developmental activities with infants and toddlers. Services include home visits, group meetings, developmental screening and referral to additional resources if needed.
Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening (PALS)
PALS is funded through Virginia Reads grants and the University of Virginia. The PALS website includes: 1) a section where teachers return their class scores to UVA and receive an immediate summary report, 2) a page where principals and district representatives can receive summaries of their schools' PALS scores, and 3) more than a hundred instructional suggestions and activities, based on PALS screening sections.
Reading ASSIST® Institute (RAI), a nonprofit organization, helps children with reading disabilities unlock the written word by training tutors and teachers in a phonetic-based, multisensory structured language (MSL) reading curriculum inspired by the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading instruction.
Provides detailed information about learning to read and strategies for supporting struggling readers at home, at school, and in the community. It offers news, practical information, expert advice, and resources for parents, teachers, tutors, child care providers, and policy makers.
Reading is Fundamental (RIF) provides a bilingual website that is designed to help Latino families read, sing, and share stories together at home.
