Posts filed under 'Achievement Gap'
“Two-thirds of the ninth grade achievement gap can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years.” The National Summer Learning Association opened its doors on September 1, 2009, staffed by the former staff of the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. If you are not familiar with this Association, start by studying this three-page policy brief recently released. Why now? Because NOW is the time to start planning for next summer in order to provide the best services for the children in your community who most need a quality summer opportunity.
Thank you to Lee and Low for providing this virtual visit with Ted and Betsy Lewin, Caldecott Honor winners. Not only do students enjoy these “up close and personal” looks at favorite illustrators and authors, but many of us adults enjoy the inside view as well!
Libraries were all over the news last week, particularly the Philadelphia Free Library story of “will it close, will it not?” and it appears it will stay open. A very happy library story from start to finish is the news the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library received $1 Million for Early Literacy. (Reported by the School Library Journal)
Say what? Did you know that FERDINAND THE BULL and SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE were once banned books? (Reported by the Wall Street Journal) The 28th Annual Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read will be held September 26-October 3.
Don’t forget! Register for Lights On Afterschool by 9/22 and you could win 100 books for your program!
Ready? I am excited about the upcoming October 12 release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Dog Days! The presses are busy! On the website you’ll find a release party kit…fun, fun, uh, wimpy fun!
DC museum exhibits now and arriving soon: I haven’t been yet but understand there is an interesting Book as Sculpture exhibit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. (Thank you to First Book for this news.)
And coming October 13 for those like me who are Herblock fans, the Library of Congress will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Herbert L. Block, the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, with “Herblock!” ; I am sure it will be a “must see”!
TINY VIEWS From one of my former Girl Scouts who remembered making something similar for badges: Do you remember making dioramas for “book reports”? I sure do. Here is a much smaller diorama space than I ever created!
BBAW: Book Blogger Appreciation Week was a new experience for me and what a great way to meet new virtual friends. My Friend Amy who was the lead organizer did a great job of juggling many balls, expectations, and tasks. I applaud her! She noted in her closing entry she felt like it was the end of summer camp, and for me that is an appropriate analogy. Awards, prizes, guest entries at the BBAW site, interview swaps and more; it was a full blogging week for all.
September 20th, 2009
Two weeks ago I read a COLOR ONLINE posting that has stayed with me; in that posting “Can I Get a Review?: Color Me Brown” Susan said: I realize Color Online is one small fish in a huge ocean. It’s not the popularity that’s bugging me. It’s a long history of feeling marginalized, ignored and powerless. I want more people of color readers reading and reviewing books by writers of color. I’ll give up the funk. Anyone willing to help me to inject some color into the book blogosphere?
This past week the YA blogging world has seen the escalation of a discussion about book covers which is actually a much broader issue – diversity of the authors and characters in the books we not only have available to us as readers but the books we choose to actually read and purchase….and for bloggers, the books we choose to discuss in our posts.
Justine Larbalestier went public in a posting “Ain’t That a Shame” sharing her deeply felt disappointment over the cover chosen by her US publisher Bloomsbury for her novel LIAR to be released September 29, 2009. To be specific, Justine is deservedly upset that the cover is the picture of a white girl, the book is about a black girl.
Liz B in a posting yesterday “Getting the Books” notes: I think it is important for bloggers to be aware, to ask questions, including questioning themselves. Which is why for the Liar issue, I think it is just as important to ask “what am I doing?” as to react to the specific book and publisher.
While the current discussion is focused more on YA literature, this is an issue with books for children and youth of all ages. As an organization serving children most at risk of reading difficulties, RIF recognizes we must be involved in the discussion and more importantly, the solutions.
At Reading Is Fundamental, we are concerned about the ongoing reading gap between African American, Hispanic and American Indian children and their white and Asian peers as shown by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
We examined carefully what we might do as an organization as we are not teachers of reading but instead have a mission to motivate children and youth to find the joy and purpose in reading through book accessibility/ownership and other literacy resources. RIF launched our Multicultural Literacy Campaign and part of that effort is to do what we can to provide for children books that are “mirrors and windows ” as described by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop of The Ohio State University. We recognize there are many more children’s books than YA books featuring persons of color on covers and between the covers; but affordability is still a significant issue. With other children’s literacy partners we seek to begin to more actively address this issue. One initial step is the distribution of multicultural book collections through the sponsorship of our partner Macy’s; these are books that many schools and other child serving organizations cannot afford.
We are proud to work with our Multicultural Advisory Committee led by RIF Board member Dr. Claude A. Mayberry , Jr. who was also announced last week as the President of the National Council on Educating Black Children.
After reading Susan’s post on Color Online I realized I personally must commit to do more on this blog regarding books featuring people who are not mirrors of me and that I must do so in a conscious, planned manner. I am reviewing my schedule of Monday Cover Stories, consciously thinking about the issue as I read for Friday WEEK’S END selections, and continuing a WEDNESDAY WINDOW feature recently added where the books I discuss will be a “window” for me, a white person born and raised in the southern part of the United States. I look forward to a continued dialogue with all concerned and hope your suggestions/questions for RIF will be shared with me.
Carol Hampton Rasco
July 26th, 2009
Buffalo and Churchill: At this week’s end unlike last week, I am not reading in a beach chair in my office with a Horton hat on my head nor crawling out of Maisy’s house with a good book; instead I am in Buffalo, New York, attending Literacy Powerline’s National Community Literacy Leadership Conference which I keynoted Thursday morning discussing Building System Changes: One Step at a Time. In my opinion, the “one step at a time” is the most important part of that statement. Thursday evening I enjoyed listening to a presentation by Jonathan Sandys, the great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill. Jonathan is the president and founder of the Churchill’s Britain Foundation which is focused on supporting literacy and self-sufficiency. Humor, discussion of his dyslexia, and his “I give up” stance as a 17-year-old, followed by his transformation through reading history, particularly about his great-grandfather, made for an entertaining but also thought-provoking session. More to come on this conference which RIF is proud to co-sponsor.
And again, THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: “The wide variation in performance among schools serving similar students suggests that these gaps can be closed. Race and poverty are not destiny.” This statement is found in the recently released The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools, a report that shows the connection between our national economy and the value of giving kids good schools. This report demonstrates that helping all students to achieve their potential has real impact on improving our economic standing as a nation.
The Condition of Education 2009 has been released by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES); this report required by law includes 46 indicators in five major areas—participation in education, learner outcomes, student effort and educational progress, elementary and secondary education contexts, and postsecondary education contexts.
- Between 1979 and 2007, the number of school-age children (children ages 5–17) who spoke a language other than English at home increased from 3.8 to 10.8 million, or from 9 to 20 percent of the population in this age range. Of the school-age children who spoke a language other than English at home and who spoke English with difficulty, 75 percent (or 2.1 million) spoke Spanish (indicator 8 ).
- According to data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), at about 9 months old, 2 years old, and 4 years old, smaller percentages of children in poverty were read to, told stories, or sung to daily by a family member, compared with children not in poverty. Children with other risk factors, such as having a mother whose highest level of education was less than a high school diploma or having a primary home language other than English, were also less likely to have family members who read to them, told them stories, and sang to them (indicator 2).
- Twenty-nine percent of 2-year-olds in poverty demonstrated proficiency in listening comprehension, compared with 39 percent of those at or above poverty. Twenty percent of 4-year-olds in poverty were proficient in letter recognition, compared with 37 percent of children at or above poverty (indicator 3).
Young Artists on display! RIF is proud to be part of the Turning the Page program where the mission statement reads: “Turning the Page links D.C. public schools, families and our community so that, together, we can ensure D.C. students receive valuable educational resources and a high-quality public education.” I recently read a post on Maria Salvadore’s blog Page by Page at Reading Rockets sharing her experiences the morning she recently spent “with young artists whose work was featured in an opening at The Phillips Collection that featured young (and I mean young) artists; the oldest were in 5th grade, most were prekindergarten through 2nd. It was amazing, energizing, exciting, and downright remarkable.” The “Young Artists Exhibition: Art Links to Literacy” is the culmination of a yearlong museum-school program; the exhibit will be at The Phillips through August 31, 2009, and I intend to visit for sure.
BookUpNYC: “The National Book Foundation is committed to using innovative approaches to encourage young people to read for pleasure. Recent studies show that middle school age children are at great risk to stop reading on their own. Through BookUpNYC, we are addressing this issue and introducing young people to America’s rich literary culture. We believe that if young people aren’t readers, they haven’t yet found the right books. Working in weekly, after-school sessions with writer/instructors, BookUpNYC helps young people identify their interests and guides them toward finding quality books they will enjoy.” Most recently the students at each site have compiled lists of their favorite books. Sounds like a winning program!
Happy Reading!
Carol
June 12th, 2009
In a mid-May blog entry on Guys Lit Wire (GLW) I read: “We are moving today into the second phase of GLW, where we put our money where our mouth is and physically act on getting books into the hands of boys that otherwise have none. Today we start the first two week Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys to help the teens incarcerated in the L.A. County Juvenile Justice System. They have no books – at all – and they need them; they need them desperately.”
In additional to applauding this activity, I commented then how RIF operates programs for youth in juvenile facilities. Since then I have heard from several people asking more about this facet RIF programming. RIF operates 13 Books for Ownership programs in juvenile corrections facilities in 11 states. Additionally, six Books for Ownership programs operate in secure juvenile psychiatric hospital wards in four states. These programs all together serve over 58,000 young people each year providing each with new, free books of their choosing coupled with literacy activities. Countless other RIF programs around the country that operate primarily in traditional settings also have one or two sites in juvenile correctional facilities. Many of these children and youth are often significantly limited in their autonomy and ability to retain personal possessions.
RIF also serves incarcerated parents in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system, two state departments of corrections and two other agencies that provide services to inmates and their families. We are reaching over 17,000 children of these inmates each year, providing them not only with new, free books, but with a means of interacting with their incarcerated parent. The programs operate using one of two different models for distributing books. In some cases, the children select RIF books during visits to their incarcerated parent, and the parent and child read and participate in literacy activities together at the correctional facility. Other times due to distance, prison security levels or other family circumstances, it is not possible for children to visit their incarcerated parents. In those cases parents select books to send to their children. The books are often accompanied by letters or a recording of the parent reading the book aloud. Parents and children can then correspond about the book and about other books the children might like for future RIF selections. In addition to the programs for adults noted here, over 1,800 other active RIF programs have indicated they serve some children who have incarcerated parents.
I again heartily commend Guys Lit Wire for its efforts on behalf of the boys of the L.A. County Juvenile Justice System. Anyone wishing to learn more about how you might partner with RIF to serve families and/or youth in similar circumstances, please contact me!
Happy reading!
Carol
June 2nd, 2009
CHILDREN ARE HUNGRY ACROSS AMERICA
- It is difficult to talk about feeding children’s minds when they are literally hungry. The Last Hope for Hungry Kids from the Washington Post on Saturday, May 30 is like articles we all see, stories we are increasingly hearing everywhere. As literacy advocates we must join the voices supporting policy makers who are seeking ways to insure our nation’s hungry young children are fed.
MORE ON THE TROUBLING ACHIEVEMENT GAP
- William Brock, Ray Marshall, and Marc Tucker outline in a Washington Post column on Saturday, May 30, 10 Steps to World-Class Schools. I am particularly pleased to see their call for the coordination of social services with school services as well as read where they note all states should “Offer high-quality early-childhood education to, at a minimum, all 4-year-olds and all low-income 3-year-olds.”
- Rod Paige, former Secretary of the U. S. Department of Education, wrote this weekend in The Houston Chronicle the “Race gap in education must be closed.” He starts with “Before now, I’ve not thought much of ‘first African-American’ designations, but President Obama’s nomination of African-American astronaut Charles F. Bolden to become the next NASA administrator thrilled me.” Of particular interest is his statement echoing many others in saying “Closing the educational achievement gap between minority and white children is the civil rights issue of our time.”
May 31st, 2009
SUMMER READING: I was honored to be invited to a meeting last week where First Lady Michelle Obama outlined a summer of volunteer service she and the President will promote. One key component of this effort will be focused on children and reading. The initiative will be announced in late June and span a three-month period. Stay tuned for more details!
THE TROUBLING ACHIEVEMENT GAP: Three studies of note just crossed my desk in relation to the Achievement Gap discussion I posted on May 21:
- 10th Annual Mother’s Day Report Card from Save the Children. In brief, the United States ranked very close to the bottom among wealthy nations in providing services to prepare children for school. It is the first year the report has looked at the 158 countries surveyed as to how well governments support children’s early learning opportunities. Of the 158 countries evaluated, 25 are wealthier nations that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Among this subset of 25 nations, the U.S. ranked above only Australia, Canada, and Ireland. The U.S. was 27th out of 158 on the full ranking. The full report can be accessed at www.savethechildren.org/publications/state-of-the-worlds-mothers-report.
- Gordon MacInnes, former assistant commissioner for Abbott implementation at the New Jersey Department of Education, has outlined in his book In Plain Sight: Simple, Difficult Lessons from New Jersey’s Expensive Effort to Close the Achievement Gap (http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=PB&pubid=675) how school districts used the additional funds provided to work toward closing the achievement gap. Education Daily notes that in a recent forum it was suggested the results of the New Jersey experience might be instructive to states as spending is outlined for stimulus dollars.
- The Schott Foundation for Public Education released on May 19 a report Lost Opportunity: A 50-State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America. (http://www.schottfoundation.org/) Bottom line: On the scale used in this study, 84% of states do not offer low-income students a strong opportunity to learn. Dr. John Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation noted, “The state data is clear. If you are a Black, Latino, American Indian, or low-income student in this country, odds are you are not receiving high-quality learning opportunities.” It was also noted in the report low-income students have the highest opportunity to learn in those states with low minority populations. Data can be found at www.otlstatereport.org.
May 26th, 2009
On May 17, 1954, in a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stated in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate educational facilities [for blacks and whites] are inherently unequal.” Now, 55 years later, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that African American, Hispanic and American Indian children are part of a persistent achievement gap that divides our nation’s students along these racial and socioeconomic lines and has made this education inequality issue THE civil rights issue of the 21st century. The Education Equality Project held a rally in Washington, D.C., on May 16 with buses from 22 cities bringing advocates for children and children themselves; it appears very possibly the discussion of this gap may be gaining new and increased momentum. RIF sincerely hopes so.
What is RIF doing to contribute to the action toward eliminating the gap? RIF is dedicated to a Multicultural Literacy Initiative to bring the joy of reading to all children in order to motivate them to continue to work hard on literacy skills and expand their horizons. We are guided in this work by a Multicultural Advisory Committee led by Dr. Claude Mayberry from the RIF board of directors. The initiative was launched more than two years ago with the strong support of Macy’s and that support continues today. RIF advocates for all children to have access to books including ones they own, in well-stocked libraries, and in their classrooms.
These books serve as both “mirrors and windows”: books that mirror the individuals’ own culture, and books that open windows to other cultures. For a fuller description, read the article “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” (1) by Rudine Sims Bishop, Ph.D., who is retired from Ohio State University and serves on RIF’s Literature Advisory Board. This board is chaired by Violet Harris, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Additionally, when many individuals hear the preceding statements about cultures they think only of heroic portrayals in history, but children need both a sense of epic history as well as individual models of society at its best. Kekla Magoon in a recent interview at Fuse #8 said it well when talking about her most recent book The Rock and the River :
“I’ve realized in writing this book that the way we tell history to kids is very hero-focused. It’s especially true of Black History. How does the story go? There was slavery, then Abraham Lincoln. Segregation, then Rosa Parks. Then Dr. King came along, and now we’re all living happily ever after. Ummm…simplified much?”
All food for thought and topics for further entries.
Carol
1) Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom. Vo. 6, no. 3. Summer 1990.
May 21st, 2009
“Two-thirds of the ninth grade achievement gap can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years.” The National Summer Learning Association opened its doors on September 1, 2009, staffed by the former staff of the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. If you are not familiar with this Association, start by studying this three-page policy brief recently released. Why now? Because NOW is the time to start planning for next summer in order to provide the best services for the children in your community who most need a quality summer opportunity.
Ready? I am excited about the upcoming October 12 release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Dog Days! The presses are busy! On the website you’ll find a release party kit…fun, fun, uh, wimpy fun!