National Reading Month may be wrapping up, but the importance of reading doesn’t end with the calendar. In fact, for kids, this is where the work and opportunity begin.
“We take early literacy and reading very seriously for young kids,” said Lewis and Clark Library director John Finn.
Educators and librarians emphasize the importance of starting kids off reading early to prepare them for their future learning.
Evan Charney reports - watch the video here:
According to the Montana Office of Public Instruction, using the ACT scores for high school juniors, proficiency in English and language arts was at 54.7% for the 2024-25 school year, up 2% from the previous year.
Looking at the younger ages, grades 3-8 sit at 43.1% proficiency. While that number was one percent lower than the previous year, OPI says that changing assessment testing methods makes the results not comparable to previous years, and that this year’s numbers will be the new baseline for the Montana Aligned to Standards Through-year test score moving forward.
Advocates for reading in the community strive to see proficiency rates continue to grow rather than fall.
“They're low, and we try to help with that here at the library,” Finn said. “It's really important to get young kids ready to read and reading as quickly as possible and as well as they can.”
The Lewis and Clark Public Library sees 250,000 people come through their doors each year, a third of whom are young readers and families. The library offers numerous programs, story times, and other events to promote early reading exposure.
Recently, many of the library’s story times have ended up being full, with up to 75 kids and parents in attendance listening along.
“We’ll read anywhere from 2-10 books a day,” said parent Jaden Butler. “She's already past 400 books, and she’s three. There's been a few times where I catch her kind of reading her own books, and just going off of what I’ve read, but also looking at the pictures and talking about what’s going on.”
One of the programs Lewis and Clark Library offers is ‘1,000 books before kindergarten’, challenging kids to make a large dent in their book piles before starting school.
“We've really focused on the science that actually supports early learning for children so that they're ready to start to read when they start school,” said Lewis and Clark Library children’s services librarian Molly Hudson.
Librarians say that in the interactions they have with the little ones, they do notice a difference already, like having a higher vocabulary.
“Children who are read to, children who are exposed to books, they are starting school more prepared, and they are succeeding,” Hudson said.
Signing up for a library card is free, no matter the age.
