Research shows that 74 percent of children who do not read proficiently by fourth grade will continue to struggle.
Editor's note: According to the United States Department of Education, "Children who have rich early learning experiences are better prepared to thrive in school. Yet fewer than a third of the nation's 4-year-olds are enrolled in high-quality preschool. Internationally, the United States ranks 28th in early learning enrollment."
In its 2014 budget, the Obama administration has committed to "historic new investment in preschool education" that would give all 4-year olds from low- and moderate-income families access to such education, and create "an incentive for states to serve additional middle-class children." The budget request includes $1.3 billion in 2014, and $75 billion over 10 years in mandatory funding, along with $750 million for competitively awarded preschool development grants and other funds. An area promoter of early childhood education was asked about its importance.
The Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, a Springfield-based foundation focusing on early childhood and education, wants 80 percent of Springfield’s third graders reading proficiently by 2016. Today, only half as many third graders are proficient readers. The foundation’s “Reading Success by 4th Grade” initiative is using various approaches, including parental awareness, to get more young children on the path to success.
“Because of our knowledge about child development, we understood the importance of the third grade reading milestone,” said Sally C. Fuller, project director for Reading Success by 4th Grade. “Up to third grade, they learn to read and after that, words and text become much more complicated. They have to have a strong foundation by third grade.”
In 2009, the foundation examined third grade English language arts scores on the MCAS, and found only about one-third of Springfield’s children were reading proficiently.
In response, the foundation has brought together community organizations, libraries, museums, public television and others to share best practices in early literacy.
“A huge piece of the work is just public awareness,” Fuller said. “All of the brain research that exists shows how children’s brains develop and how important the birth-to-five years are.”
Fuller said the science shows that it’s critical that parents begin to read to their children, talk to them and have back and forth conversations at a very early age.
“It needs to start at birth, because by the time kids get to kindergarten, 85 percent of their brain is developed,” she said. “There’s a massive need for parents to understand that they must talk to their children.”
Fuller said parents should find things to talk about wherever they happen to be with their kids.
“Take them to the park and talk about the grass and the trees and the river,” she said. “There needs to be conversations back and forth, so that children can experience new words, understand them. You can read books over and over again.”
Research shows that 74 percent of children who do not read proficiently by fourth grade will continue to struggle, and are at a real risk of dropping out of high school.
“It is a fact that children of lower socioeconomic status struggle much more with reading,” Fuller said. “We have one of the highest achievement gaps in the country. The gap is real and large, and we’ve not changed that in a long time.”
Fuller said there are some parents who mistakenly believe they’re going to take their child to kindergarten and then they’ll start learning, but the time for learning is much earlier.
“The other piece we’re working hard at is preschool,” Fuller said. “We know one of the indicators (of improved success rates) is going to a high quality preschool.”
As a result, Reading Success by 4th Grade has worked with the Springfield library to develop a family childcare curriculum so that family childcare providers can help children with early literacy. Providers learn how to talk to children, how to read to them, and what books to choose.
Fuller said the foundation also brought to Springfield, a new model based on the Washington-based program, called "Ready for Kindergarten."
“We funded an organization called Home City Families to do Ready! for Kindergarten,” she said. “Parents go to three 90-minute workshops a year for the first five years of their kids lives. The parents will understand what their child should be doing, cognitively and socially/emotionally.”
Reading Success by 4th Grade is also involved with the Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative to help prevent summer learning loss, and Talk.Read.Succeed., a family-based literacy program, in partnership with the Springfield Housing Authority, to raise awareness about early literacy skills.
Fuller said the foundation will continue to get involved in as many initiatives as possible to raise public awareness about the importance of reading success in the early elementary years.
“Every parent wants the best for their child,” she said. “They need the support, or the help, or the understanding of the opportunity they have to be their children’s first teacher.”
For more information, visit www.readby4thgrade.com.