We believe that education is an important pathway out of poverty and that high-quality early childhood education, family engagement and early social-emotional learning provide the foundation for school success.

LETS Read

“Reading regularly with young children stimulates optimal patterns of brain development and strengthens parent-child relationships at a critical time in child development, which in turn builds language, literacy, and social-emotional skills that last a lifetime.” (American Academy of Pediatrics Policy statement, August 2014)

The LETS Read Program was developed in response to the evidence-based need for both more effective early literacy education and increased family involvement in order to increase the likelihood of school success. Currently, there is a library of over 200 LETS Read Literacy Bags that act as, or supplement, traditional “homework” and also educate parents on how to best help their children learn at home and thrive in school.

School or community learning center-based, the program provides literacy bags containing books, shared reading suggestions for families and ideas (and often consumable materials) for art, science and math activities related to the books for children in Pre-K through Grade One. These go home on a rotating basis and are individualized to the interests and/or learning needs of each child.

The Program has been piloted at the Homer A. Plessy Community Charter School, Cypress Academy and select community childcare centers in New Orleans and evaluated by Tulane University during the 2017-18 school year.

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