More than six in 10 Ohio children are walking into kindergarten without the skills teachers expect, and local pediatricians and literacy advocates say that early gap is only getting wider. In response, a national nonprofit is betting big on a simple fix: turn routine well-child visits into mini reading lessons.
On April 1, Reach Out and Read rolled out Reach Out and Read Ohio, a new statewide affiliate that it says will “unify” and scale the program so families hear about books and reading right in the exam room. Reach Out and Read reports that its model already operates at more than 200 clinical sites across Ohio, and that nearly 90 percent of young children attend well-child visits, which makes those checkups a prime opportunity to get books and guidance into caregivers’ hands.
How the program works
At each well-child visit, the program gives children developmentally and culturally appropriate books, while clinicians model how to read with kids and share practical tips parents can use at home. Cincinnati Children’s has run Reach Out and Read locally for more than a decade, and the hospital’s early-literacy team says families often want staff to start reading on the spot as soon as a book is passed over. Cincinnati Children’s lists local leaders, including Dr. Greg Szumlas and program manager Kristy High, who oversee the effort in Greater Cincinnati.
What the data say
State numbers lay out the scope of the problem in stark terms. Analysis compiled by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio shows that roughly 60 percent of kindergarteners did not demonstrate readiness on the state’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment in 2024–25, with even bigger gaps among children from low-income families. A statewide report from advocacy group Groundwork Ohio also tracks sharp drops in readiness in recent years, finding that about 65 percent of kindergartners scored below the “ready” threshold in the 2022–23 administration. Health Policy Institute of Ohio and Groundwork Ohio provide the underlying data and analysis.
Local impact in Cincinnati
In Cincinnati exam rooms, parents say the free books are shifting habits at home. “They love to read now,” mother Nedra Smith told WKRC, describing how her daughters get books during pediatric visits and then bring new reading routines back to their living room. Program leaders who spoke with the station argued that the well-child visit is an efficient place to reach families who might never make it to preschool or a local library story time.
Reach and next steps
In fiscal year 2025, Reach Out and Read says it served more than 174,000 Ohio children and distributed nearly 304,000 books at 201 clinical sites. With its new statewide affiliate, the group wants to keep expanding until every county is covered. Reach Out and Read notes that the model focuses on low-income families, who make up most participants, and that it works with community partners to widen book access. The organization is banking on this relatively low-cost strategy to boost school readiness and shrink the gaps that keep showing up on state tests.
What else needs to happen
Experts caution that handing out books is only one piece of a much larger early-learning puzzle. They point to the need to expand access to high-quality preschool, support families with home-based resources, and tackle the health and social conditions that shape early development long before a child sets foot in a classroom. Local initiatives such as the Cincinnati Preschool Promise and United Way’s Success By 6 program aim to increase enrollment and quality in pre-K, aligning with medical-based literacy efforts rather than replacing them…