The America Reads Challenge is a grassroots national campaign that challenges every American to help all our children learn to read, including English Language Learners and students with disabilities. America Reads sparks collaborations between entire communities - schools and libraries, businesses and community groups, religious institutions, universities, college students and senior citizens - to work together with teachers and parents to teach our children to read.

When the America Reads Challenge began in 1997, President Clinton asked the higher education community to take a lead in helping to build a nation of readers. To assist this effort, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley issued a waiver to the Federal Work-Study (FWS) regulations that allows the Federal Government to pay up to 100% of eligible FWS students' wages if they serve as a tutor to preschool through elementary-aged children. The America Reads Challenge waiver has since been expanded to include family literacy programs as well as the America Counts initiative.