State and local governments are increasingly reducing or redirecting the funding that supports public education. Core skills, like reading, may be one of the first programs to experience a rollback in budget support, since some legislators believe that reading is a self-starting learning skill. In other words, they feel that children who know the basics of reading can continue to improve on their own without government support.
The problem is that many students do not improve. Family problems, overcrowded classrooms, and sometimes unqualified teachers can prevent young students from improving their reading skills to an adult functioning level. As a result, many high school graduates read only at a second or third grade level.
If you are concerned about your children's reading ability and the potential for improvement in the public school system, here are some steps a parent can take to strengthen a child's schools by supplementing a public school reading program:
1. Start your child early. Read aloud to babies and toddlers. Studies show that school-age children who were read to even at very young ages performed better in school than children who were not read to. Give picture books to preschoolers and continue to read aloud with them before they start school. Act out dialog and discuss a story's ideas, which will stimulate your child's critical thinking ability.
2. Take your child to the library and visit bookstores. Expose your son or daughter to a range of print materials and let them see the value of reading for adults outside a school setting. Buy a special book and encourage your child to do a book report or share the story idea with classmates at "Show and Tell" time.
3. Ask the teacher about getting a reading expert to come and talk to the class. A specialist can present fascinating ideas about books to children at their age level. Perhaps the guest speaker will read aloud excerpts or act out scenes in costume. He or she may invite a child or two from the class to enact a scene for the others. Encourage the teacher to make reading a special activity in the classroom.
4. Suggest a reading contest for the class. The student who reads the most pages in a month (or longer) can earn an award or win a prize. Some fast food corporations like Pizza Hut sponsor contests like this and give each child who participates a certificate for a free personal pan pizza. Perhaps a local sponsor would be willing to donate candy, doughnuts, or other treats in exchange for community publicity. Or parents can bring in goodies for a "Book Day" party after the kids meet a reading goal, say a hundred pages per student.
5. Look for educational videos about book-making, the history of printing, famous or obscure authors, and well-known books. Appealing to kids through a visual medium will likely stimulate their interst in more books for the future. Rather than making this a random event, do it monthly or quarterly. If the teacher is unable to work the idea into a teaching plan, do it at home for your children.
6. Let kids become authors. Ask whether kids can write their own stories, fictional or autobiographical, and have them bound in construction paper as Christmas or Mother's Day gifts. Local copy centers may be willing to donate supplies and spiral binding. Students will have a lasting memento of their own creative efforts and may look at other books more favorably afterward.
Getting kids interested in reading and encouraging them to do it as a matter of interest rather than as an academic requirement can be challenging. But many parents are up to the task. Ask your child's public school teacher what you can do to augment the students' learning to read and their appreciation of books.
