Nepal, Nov. 18 -- For most children, turning 10 is an exciting moment. They're learning more about the world and expanding their horizons. But too many children-more than half of all 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries-cannot read and understand a simple story. We are in the middle of a global learning crisis that stifles the opportunities and aspirations of hundreds of millions of children. That is unacceptable.

In October, we released data to support a new learning target: by 2030, we want to cut, by at least half, the global level of learning poverty.

Learning to read is an especially critical skill: it opens a world of possibilities, and it's the foundation on which other essential learning is built-including numeracy a...