Education Corner Innovative Program Champions Educational, Socio-Economic Advancement of Nation's Largest and Fastest-Growing Youth Population Washington, DC – Responding to the urgent need to promote reading achievement among Latino youth, Scholastic, National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the Verizon Foundation today launched Lee y serás® (Read and You Will Be), a groundbreaking Latino early literacy initiative that engages parents and communities in the literacy development of their children. Latinos represent almost 20% of the U.S. population under the age of 18 -- the largest minority segment of the nation's student population. Currently, Hispanic achievement rates in all levels of education remain low. Latino students tend to lag behind their non-Latino peers academically, particularly in the area of reading, a skill that has a direct impact on learning. Sixty percent of Latino 8th graders and 57% of Latino 4th graders read below the basic level, an achievement gap tha