Walk set Monday to help fund child reading initiative

In April, I read the achievement gap study of students in Northwest Arkansas by Sarah McKenzie, executive director of the University of Arkansas’ Office of Educational Policy, and I became more keenly aware of the difficulties disadvantaged children face when they enter school and the consequences to those who fail to learn to read. I began asking a lot of questions about remedial strategies: What are the innovative ways in which we are helping kids to not only master reading skills but to love books?

Research points toward the importance of parents as first teachers: keeping a lot of books in the home, reading each day with children, encouraging kids to develop their imaginations through stories on the printed page, and doing all of this well before they ever step foot in a classroom! If children … begin to view books as vital sources of information about their world, their brains develop at a healthy rate and they are ready to excel in school.

Unfortunately, many youngsters from lower-income homes do not have these advantages. Their parents may not be readers, there may be few books in the home and parents are often strapped for time and rest by long, arduous hours at work. Children in these family circumstances can begin the educational experience with a distinct handicap: books and reading are foreign to them and classroom learning becomes a challenge. Children lose confidence, often drop out of school in the higher grades and fail to thrive as adults.

I approached the Ozark Literacy Council with an idea for an initiative, the Tenacious Reading Project, now in progress and funded by private donations. Working with elementary and middle schools in the area, we engage parents in reading with children at after-hour events called Eat and Reads. We provide free books of their choice for children to keep at home and encourage them to read with their parents whenever possible. We are recruiting volunteers to tutor children during and after school hours, and we are helping families develop home libraries. Participating school districts include Fayetteville, Prairie Grove, Lincoln and Decatur. Hopefully, these ideas will catch on in other school districts (family literacy programs in Springdale are well-developed).

On Monday, Dec. 4, I will begin a five-day, 118-mile Walk for Kids to promote family literacy and attract donations to continue to buy books and to purchase meals for the Eat and Read events. I will walk from Fayetteville to Summers along U.S. 62, then north through Siloam Springs and Gentry to Decatur, then walk back.

We received $4,700 thus far toward a goal of $10,000, plus a $2,108 challenge grant from the Fayetteville Area Community Foundation. You can help by mailing a tax-deductible donation to the Ozark Literacy Council, 2596 N. Keystone Crossing, Fayetteville, AR 72704 or contributing online through the Indiegogo/Generosity website at http://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/walk4kids—2.

RALPH H. NESSON

Fayetteville