State receives federal grant to help juvenile offenders learn to read

COLUMBUS (AP) -- The federal government has awarded Ohio a $14 million grant to help improve the reading skills of children in the state's juvenile detention centers.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday is the largest in the history of Ohio's Youth Services Department. The agency was one of just eight programs around the country to receive the grant and the only prison system.
It's vital for youthful offenders to read to improve their chances of staying out of trouble, said Youth Services Director Tom Stickrath. A third of youthful offenders returns to the system or enters the adult prison system within a year of their release.
"If youths who come into our system get nothing else, we must give them the ability to read," Stickrath said.
The state will use the five-year grant to train teachers, hire 31 staff members, including more teachers, and create a specialized teaching approach.
Children in state detention centers, many of them high school age, read on average at a seventh-grade level.