Challenge
Reading and writing play a crucial role in our children's school career and future lives. Without being able to read and write well, or while they are unable to do so, students are unable to benefit from all the opportunities that school has to offer them and, at worst, may even see their academic progress compromised.

The results of international studies in which Portugal has participated (PIRLS and PISA) show that although the literacy index of Portuguese students has progressed consistently between 2000 and 2015, and is currently within the average of the other countries evaluated, there has been a drop in the average level of performance in recent years. Data obtained from PIRLS show that at 9/10 years old approximately 25% of students reveal difficulties in reading comprehension, with 6% not even managing to reach a minimum level of performance; in the sample of students tested in PISA 2022, 23% had results below level 2, a level considered by the OECD as the minimum performance necessary for participation in modern societies (corresponding to the set of students defined by the OECD as low performers). In summary, the results of the latest editions of these international assessments show that throughout Elementary School, on average 1 in 4 young people did not reach an elementary level in reading (IAVE, 2023; OECD, 2023). They also show that recovery from difficulties evident in the first years of schooling is not ensured by the school.

Low literacy levels have serious personal, social and economic consequences. Students, children and young people, with poor reading performance are at greater risk of leaving school early (OECD, 2016). Adults in these conditions are less likely to find well-paid and rewarding jobs, face an increased risk of poverty and social exclusion, have more difficulty supporting their children's educational paths and value education less, which explains the generational effect of low qualification levels. From a social perspective, development and economic growth are compromised when a significant segment of a country's population has a low level of literacy.

Purpose
Projeto LER is the result of the vision and mission of the Belmiro da Azevedo Foundation, which has Education at the center of its activities, focusing its concern on learning to read and write and the importance of quality teacher training for the improvement and modernization of the Brazilian educational system. Purpose The last objective of this initiative is to contribute to an effective improvement in the literacy levels of Portuguese children and young people.

The development
The LER platform contains a range of diverse content produced by a team of renowned national researchers who systematize the main areas of knowledge about learning to read and write, aimed in particular at preschool and primary school teachers. The platform covers the most relevant areas of the learning processes of reading and writing and the factors that condition them, enabling teachers to understand many of the causes of problems that arise in the classroom, encouraging them to structure well-founded, effective and inclusive teaching.

In addition to providing this content, Projeto LER has two other areas of action: i) the assessment of reading and writing ability and skills that predict success in learning, in preschool and in the first two years of schooling; ii) the training of higher education teachers and students, future educators and teachers, who will have the mission of preparing students to learn to read and write or teach them to read and write.