By Chris Tedesco
Parents are asking questions about public school education in their area. Specifically, parents want to know how to help their children learn to read. Learning to read is the most important skill our schools will ever teach our children but the Nation's public schools are severely deficient in regards to reading with math skills a close second. Reading is paramount since reading comprehension is needed for all other subjects. If a child cannot read at grade level by the end of the third grade, their chances of graduating decline significantly. Worse, 74% of children who cannot read at grade level by the end of the third grade will never catch up. Nationwide, the NAEP assessed that 33% of children are reading at a grade level by the fourth grade and in California, the percentage is even lower (24%).
Three key levers were identified by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to address the growing child literacy crisis.
· School Readiness- too many children showing for school not ready for what school has to offer.
· School Attendance- too many children are missing too much school and too much instructional time. Summer Learning
· Loss- too many children are losing too much academic ground during the summer.
In order to be successful, literacy programs will also need volunteers to help promote reading comprehension in the participating communities. Volunteers can help with everything from attendance to parental involvement. Identifying those children who are missing the most school and pairing them with the volunteers can prove an effective warning system. Attendance has a direct effect on learning to read, so parents and volunteers should be alerted when children are absent so they can try an understand why the child is not attending school. The volunteers should learn to discuss absences with the childrens' parents so obstacles keeping the kids from attending may be identified (bullying, problems keeping up etc). Although volunteering any time is valuable, a commitment of at least five hours a week should be expected for any real results.
Child literacy is in a crisis with comprehension levels at an all time low. Education about child literacy in the U.S. will go a long way to identifying how we can teach our children to read and how we can reduce child illiteracy if more parents and volunteers get involved. If we take these steps now, child literacy can go from learning to read to reading to learn.
For more information on child literacy go to: http://www.sacramentoreads.com/
Parents are asking questions about public school education in their area. Specifically, parents want to know how to help their children learn to read. Learning to read is the most important skill our schools will ever teach our children but the Nation's public schools are severely deficient in regards to reading with math skills a close second. Reading is paramount since reading comprehension is needed for all other subjects. If a child cannot read at grade level by the end of the third grade, their chances of graduating decline significantly. Worse, 74% of children who cannot read at grade level by the end of the third grade will never catch up. Nationwide, the NAEP assessed that 33% of children are reading at a grade level by the fourth grade and in California, the percentage is even lower (24%).
Three key levers were identified by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to address the growing child literacy crisis.
· School Readiness- too many children showing for school not ready for what school has to offer.
· School Attendance- too many children are missing too much school and too much instructional time. Summer Learning
· Loss- too many children are losing too much academic ground during the summer.
In order to be successful, literacy programs will also need volunteers to help promote reading comprehension in the participating communities. Volunteers can help with everything from attendance to parental involvement. Identifying those children who are missing the most school and pairing them with the volunteers can prove an effective warning system. Attendance has a direct effect on learning to read, so parents and volunteers should be alerted when children are absent so they can try an understand why the child is not attending school. The volunteers should learn to discuss absences with the childrens' parents so obstacles keeping the kids from attending may be identified (bullying, problems keeping up etc). Although volunteering any time is valuable, a commitment of at least five hours a week should be expected for any real results.
Child literacy is in a crisis with comprehension levels at an all time low. Education about child literacy in the U.S. will go a long way to identifying how we can teach our children to read and how we can reduce child illiteracy if more parents and volunteers get involved. If we take these steps now, child literacy can go from learning to read to reading to learn.
For more information on child literacy go to: http://www.sacramentoreads.com/
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