The Uni reading room helps close achievement gaps by positively impacting the following factors identified by the National Education Association:
- access to a learning environment that can support youth development outside of school;
- access to books;
- time kids spent reading and learning;
- time others were able to devote to supporting and reinforcing learning;
- experience with reading and learning;
- students’ feeling that they are, in part, responsible for their own learning;
- students’ TV watching and out-of-school reading;
- availability of quality materials and culturally relevant materials;
- availability of a culturally friendly environment (surveys told us that kids liked how the Uni was “in the neighborhood and that it felt “comfortable” for that reason);
- sense of community safety (as one 7-yr old boy said, “no more fights, just books”).
Photos of Uni reading room at NYC play streets in 2014:
