WITS Summer Books
WITS Summer Books brings our community together to raise funds to give books to students, curate classroom libraries, and support WITS programs. Teams of WITS supporters unite to raise money for a Chicago elementary school.
Join a Chicago elementary school team today, and create opportunities for every student in Chicago to be literate.
Sixty-one percent of low-income families have no age-appropriate children’s books at home. In a school district where 71% of students are from low-income families, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students need books for their home libraries.
According to data from The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), based on testing from 2025, only 41% of students in Chicago Public Schools are proficient in reading.
By year’s end, 62% of WITS students read at or above grade-level, nearly double the rate of 37% for all students at WITS schools.
80% of WITS-K teachers reported their students had developed specialized reading interests throughout the year, an increase of more than 44% from the beginning of the 2024-25 school year.
91% of WITS students reported having positive attitudes towards reading at the end of the 2024-25 school year, up from 73% at the beginning of the year.
At the end of the 2024-25 school year, an across-program average of 94% of WITS students reported feeling good or very good about spending time with their mentors.
Make a Donation
For check donations, please make payable to WITS and send to the following address: Working in the Schools: 160 N Franklin St, Ste 201, Chicago, IL 60606.