Updated
Updated · KUTV 2News · Aug 25
Imagination Library Partners With Utah Nonprofit to Tackle 69% Child Reading Gap
Updated
Updated · KUTV 2News · Aug 25

Imagination Library Partners With Utah Nonprofit to Tackle 69% Child Reading Gap

3 articles · Updated · KUTV 2News · Aug 25

Summary

  • Operation Literacy signed a formal agreement to become Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partner in Utah, launching the Raising Utah Readers initiative to distribute free books and literacy resources.
  • About 69% of Utah children read below grade level by third grade, a gap the partnership is using to press lawmakers for state funding.
  • Pending legislation, the Utah nonprofit has started a large-scale pilot program to show demand for the book-giveaway effort and measure its impact.
  • The deal extends Parton’s literacy work in Utah after her death at 80, with local organizers saying the program aims to build long-term reading support statewide.

Insights

Will lawmakers fund the late Dolly Parton's ambitious plan to mail free books to every young child?
Does mailing free books to toddlers hold the secret to fixing persistent achievement gaps in early education?