Ensuring all students’ right to read
Imagine living in the Stone Age without access to stone. Or in the Bronze Age without access to bronze. Without the currency of the era, how would you secure food? Build shelter? Stay clothed in the winter? Compete for other essential resources?
Millions of school-age children in the U.S. are living the modern-day version of this scenario. We are living in the Information Age, and far too many students can’t access information because they are unable to read.
In “The Right to Read,” our documentary about the literacy crisis in America, advocate Kareem Weaver makes precisely this point. The film, directed by Jenny Mackenzie, follows Kareem, two families, and a teacher as they fight to ensure access to high-quality literacy instruction and to make sure our youngest generation is set up to succeed in both literacy and in life.
Around the third grade, students make the shift from learning how to read to reading in order to learn. But in Arkansas, less than one-third of fourth-grade students can currently read proficiently. This reality is a reflection of the state of literacy nationwide, where over one-third of fourth-grade students are struggling to read.
As a result, these students aren’t ready to make the leap to reading to learn, making every future step on their academic journey more challenging.
Reading is the foundation upon which almost every other academic skill or opportunity is built, and it’s something I’ve dedicated much of my 48-year career to championing. I come from a family of educators. They instilled my deep appreciation for the value of literacy, not just for its own sake (though that’s great, too!), but for how it positions us for lifelong success.
We can’t blame students or teachers for the low reading proficiency rates in our nation’s classrooms; the fault clearly lies with the reading instruction they’re receiving. For decades now, school districts and states have relied upon an approach to teaching reading that simply doesn’t work for the majority of students.
Instead of using pictures or guessing strategies, students should be given the tools to decode every word through evidence-based instruction. Students must be taught how to decode words through the five pillars of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
As I like to say, when you know better, you do better. And when it comes to reading instruction, we do know better.
I have been encouraged by Arkansas’ embrace of the science of reading. From the passage of The Right to Read Act in 2017 to the literacy components of this year’s LEARNS Act, Arkansas has been investing the time and resources needed to ensure that kids are properly learning how to read.
Numerous studies support the science of reading, and thanks to this statewide action, districts across Arkansas are working hard to make literacy instruction explicit, direct, systemic, and based in evidence. Simultaneously, Arkansas’ universities are ensuring that incoming educators are prepared to teach students how to read the right way.
“The Right to Read” shows what happens when communities come together to advocate for this research-backed approach.
We’re now bringing our film to Arkansas in celebration of the strong work that’s already happening in the state. I look forward to speaking with policymakers, families, educators, community members, and young readers in Little Rock on Oct. 11 and Pine Bluff on Oct. 12.
In the U.S., every child, no matter which race or creed, what ZIP code you live in, or who your parents are, is born with the right to read. We can’t rest until all states, school districts, and universities take reading instruction more seriously. Parents in all communities need to ask their school leaders to explain their approach to literacy instruction, and push back if it isn’t aligned with the science.
Reading is power. Reading is freedom. Reading opens the doors to curiosity, creativity, and discovery, and allows young minds to dream bigger than they knew was possible. Most importantly, once you possess the gift of literacy, it can never be taken away from you.
But you don’t need to take my word for it. If you can’t make it to our events in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, check out our documentary, “The Right to Read,” for yourself at http://arkansas.therighttoreadfilm.org from Tuesday, Oct. 10 to Thursday, Oct. 12.