Reading, Literacy Key to Academic Success
by Joe Dorman
It is back to school time for children of all ages across the United States. As children prepare for their academic year, one critical aspect is reading literacy. Reading is the fundamental key to academic and career success.
Rotary International lists on our website supporting education as one of our nine causes. With that, I was thrilled to hear Millwood Superintendent Cecilia Robinson Woods recently present to our club highlighting her experiences and expectations for the school year with the issues facing children, including early childhood literacy.
On the Rotary International website, they share that more than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate worldwide. That’s 17 percent of the adult population.
Closer to home, in studies delivered by the National Literacy Institute, on average, 79 percent of U.S. adults nationwide are considered literate, while 21 percent of adults in the US are classified as illiterate; startling to see considering the opportunities afforded to most Americans. 54 percent of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20 percent are below 5th-grade level). Economically, low levels of literacy cost the US up to $2.2 trillion per year in reduced productivity.
Different factors contribute to this metric, but certainly one gauge is our graduation rate. According to US News and World Report, in 2023, the average state graduation rate across 49 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. (with Oklahoma being the only state to not submit data that year) was 79 percent in reviewing the 2021-2022 academic year, up two percentage points from the year prior.
Additionally, in 2022, data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as “The Nation’s Report Card,” showed that only 33% of fourth graders and 31% of eighth graders scored at or above grade level in reading, with much of that learning loss coming from pandemic era school lessons taught virtually.
When do children usually learn to read? There is no single answer to this question, as reading skills can vary from child-to-child. However, according to the National Reading Panel (NRP), most children start reading at around 6 to 7 years old, while some children learn as early as 4 to 5 years old. Children as early as two years old have incredible brains that allow them to learn more and learn faster than they can when they are older, so reading to them begins this process at that earlier age.
Superintendent Woods shared with me a sign-chart from several years ago showing how few of her three-year-old students were able to write their names at the beginning of school compared to the end gains based on the support from the teachers. Now, imagine the jumpstart to learning if these students came to school knowing simply how to properly write their own names, and it is not isolated with just this school. We expect much from students in school, but a great deal of their success with literacy depends on how much they learn at home. Parents who read to their children and provide learning opportunities are increasing the odds of preparing them for success in life.
I certainly do not mean for this to be an indictment on parenting though. If many parents had to spend less time trying to find ways to survive, they would have more time to spend with their children, including reading to them. Many of the programs offered with the support of Rotary are making a difference in those lives.
As a society, we have also grown to expect so much more out of our schools beyond educational attainment. Too often, schools become a safety net.
One successful program offered by the state places social workers into school sites to assist with helping children and their families attain success through connecting access to programs which provide support systems, such as SNAP (food), help in filling out applications for driver’s licenses and other needed government documents, and even assisting with locating jobs. Additionally, when volunteers are available for schools to call upon for different roles, this only helps the students more by having positive role models. Thank you to those Rotarians who do volunteer in the community and especially with students.
If we hope to break the cycle of illiteracy and provide a foundation for future success for graduation rates and educational attainment for children, Rotarians can and will lead the way. Through our efforts, a better foundation of success for our entire nation will begin with the children we positively impact.