June 16, 2010: Campaign sets reading goals
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
By PETER GOONAN
pgoonan@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - A local foundation, in calling for a community-wide effort to help children become proficient readers in the face of grim statistics, told a gathering of concerned child advocates Tuesday that the battle must begin at birth.
Representatives of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, a charitable organization, released a report that will serve as a blueprint to achieve the goal that 80 percent of Springfield’s children by 2016 will score at the proficient level on the third grade reading examination on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test.
That would compare to 2009 MCAS statistics, showing that 64 percent of Springfield’s third graders cannot read proficiently.
The foundation’s report was released during a morning conference attended by approximately 200 people at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and stressed the need to involve families, schools and the community.
Sally Fuller, the foundation’s program director, said her own mother, who was an English teacher for 46 years, gave her “an incredible opportunity to learn words.”
“There is no reason why every child in this community can’t have that same opportunity to learn words, to learn words mean knowledge, words mean books, words give you access to every aspect of education,” Fuller said. “I think, for the first time, we have the schools and an incredible number of segments in the community aligned. We know we need to head in the same direction.”
Speakers, including Nonie K. Lesaux, a national expert on literacy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who authored a statewide report on reading success, said strategies must begin at birth. Reading proficiency promotes knowledge, academic success and lifetime success, she said.
The Davis Foundation recommendations include:
Providing new opportunities for parents of children ages birth to 5 to learn how to support their children’s early literacy skill development. That includes reaching out to parents by collaborating with pediatrician offices, faith-based institutions and libraries to provide books and other materials, and providing workshops for parents.
Read the whole article on the masslive.com website.
