In line with our mission to help break the cycle of poverty for children around the world through education, JustWorld is now working with StoryBook Treasures to bring its impactful literacy program to students in South Florida. More than 100 Kindergarten and 1st Grade students in Belle Glade, Florida, will benefit from StoryBook Treasures’ program at Pioneer Park Elementary, just thirty minutes from Wellington.The goal of the SBT program is to help students achieve the important milestone of reading on grade level by 3rd grade. At this point in their academic careers, students transition from “learning to read, to reading to learn”, and those who cannot read proficiently fall behind. Not only do they struggle to keep up with their peers, but they are then less likely to graduate high school and are more likely to have behavioral and social problems as a result.Pioneer Park Elementary is just one out of forty-four schools in Palm Beach County with a poverty rate of 90-100%. This means that 90-100% of the children attending the school come from homes where a family of three makes less than $20,160 per year. At Pioneer Park, 98% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch and their Language Arts proficiency is only 40%. StoryBook Treasures specifically targets closing this achievement gap between culturally, linguistically, and economically deprived students and their peers. It helps children make vital comprehensive reading connections to literature while building a classroom and personal home library collection of books.Using the most sought after children’s literature to help children create vital lifelong literacy connections, SBT’s proven program makes children love books and love to read. This revolutionary program will change their lives, helping them to be more successful in school and their future careers. This year, the program will be offered to Kindergarten and 1st Grade students with the goal of serving children in Pre-Kindergarten through 3rd Grade in the 2018-2019 school year and evaluating its impact after four years when the first group of Kindergarten students has completed 3rd Grade.

About StoryBook Treasures

StoryBook Treasures Inc. (SBT) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to putting the best children's books in the hands of children. We use the most sought after children’s literature to help children create vital lifelong literacy connections. Our proven program makes children love books and love to read. StoryBook Treasures is currently giving more than 15,000 books to 3,000 children at 22 schools nationwide.StoryBook Treasures Testimonials"The SBT program leads students to be motivated and self-dependent in reading which gears their other interests in other areas of academic learning. The program is well planned and well put together. It's the perfect program! It ignites what seems to be a lost love of reading in children these days. EVERY school needs the SBT program!" - Kindergarten Teacher, William Paca Elementary #083, Maryland"I like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom because when I go to bed I feel lonely so I read my book." - Kindergarten Student, Sugarland Elementary, Virginia"I do not speak English or read Spanish. The StoryBook Treasures program helps my son to read. My son reads the books to me and he is teaching his sister. I am so grateful because I cannot afford books for my children." - Kindergarten Parent, Sugarland Elementary, Virginia"I love this program! Students need books to thrive and their favorite time in the literacy block was when we were using the SBT book!" - Kindergarten Teacher, Lecanto Primary, Florida