Sunday, June 29, 2003
Reading First - Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/faq.html
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What’s the current situation - how well are America’s children reading?
Not nearly well enough. Educators, parents and other interested parties have long acknowledged the general deterioration of our students’ overall reading achievement. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides perhaps the best single glimpse into the nationwide problem. From NAEP, we get a basic picture of how well children read, and the picture is not encouraging. Approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level. And as disconcerting as this general situation is, specific sub-groups of students are experiencing even less success.
* Almost 70% of low-income fourth grade students cannot read at a basic level. In other words, these children struggle with foundational reading skills like summarizing and understanding a story.
* Almost half the students living in urban areas cannot read at a basic level.
* Average-performing students have made no progress over the last 10 years, and the lowest-performing readers have become less successful over this same time period.
From a national perspective these facts are deeply troubling, and cry out for a vigorous and coordinated effort by all those with a role and responsibility in educating our nation’s children. Not being able to read at grade level is devastating to the nine-year old child who cannot do homework, enjoy a book or look forward to future grades with confidence and excitement.
What’s the key to turning this situation around?
Encouragingly, these trends in reading failure can be broken. Schools and districts can and have overcome failure and made excellent progress with even the most difficult to educate children. Unfortunately, these islands of excellence are too few and far between. Yet we know that every single child - regardless of income level or home environment - can and must learn to read by the end of third grade; thus, it is in reading instruction from kindergarten through third grade where significant new federal support for states and districts is being focused.
Research has consistently identified the critical skills that young students need to become good readers. Teachers across different states and districts have demonstrated that sound, scientifically based reading instruction can and does work with all children. The critical missing piece lies in helping able teachers benefit from the relevant research in each and every classroom. Real, nationwide progress can be made when we bring together proven methods with significant new federal resources to make sure that every child becomes a successful reader, and that each child moves forward well-prepared for a rich and rewarding academic experience.
.............much more on the site itself. Click on the above link.
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