Rotary
Elixir for week of September 8, 2011
It’s
not too late to celebrate literacy!
Since
1967, September 8 has been celebrated as International Literacy Day with the goal of focusing attention on the need to improve literacy worldwide.
As students, parents, and teachers settle into their back to school routines,
it is worth looking at the status of literacy both at home and around the
world.
NIEER
Director Steve Barnett and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan read to
preschoolers at the State of Preschool 2008 release.
According
to the fact sheets from the International Reading Association, an estimated 860 million of the world’s adults do
not know how to read or write—more than twice the entire United States
population.
- More than 100 million children globally lack access to education.
- Illiteracy plays a role in a damaging cycle of poverty, poor health, and a lack of mobility.
- In countries with a literacy rate below 55 percent, the average per capita income is $600.
Geography
plays a huge role in this cycle: 98 percent of non-literates live in a
developing country.
- About 52 percent of non-literates live in India and China
- The continent of Africa has a literacy rate of under 60 percent.
The
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNSECO) also
provides compelling information on
the extent of this problem globally.
Either
out of naiveté or a desire to believe the problem hasn’t reached our shores, it
is easy to think of illiteracy as a problem “over there.” In reality,
though, Americans whose literacy skills are never fully developed lag behind
fully literate peers in a number of ways.
Research
from ProLiteracy Worldwide finds that one half of all
adults in federal and state correctional institutions in America cannot read or
write at all, and reading problems are seen in 85 percent of juvenile
offenders.
Health
costs for individuals with low literacy skills are four times higher than those
with individuals with high-level literacy skills. Students with poor literacy
skills may struggle in a number of subjects and some will eventually drop out
before high school completion, a grim outcome when the income gap between those
with a bachelor’s degree and those without is ever growing.
Starting
children early on the road to literacy is an important step in helping develop
these skills. Recognizing this importance, NIEER has several recommended
resources on developing early literacy skills in the early years, including:
- A policy brief, "Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Presschool Years," by Dorothy Strickland and Shannon Ayers.
- "Hooked on Literacy: Why Dorothy Strickland Sees Language as Job One," a Preschool Matters interview with Dorothy Strickland.
- "What Leads to Literacy?," a feature story from Preschool
Matters on some of the factors most likely to indicate later literacy
achievement.
- A book review of Literacy Leadership in Early Childhood:
An Essential Guide.
- The volume Handbook of Early Literacy Research edited by Susan B. Neuman and David K.
Dickinson.
For
the literate, we cannot remember what it was like before letters automatically
formed into words and words into sentences. We cannot turn off our ability to
read and cannot imagine being unable to read our homework, a grocery list, or
even street signs.
For
millions, though, this is their reality. Ensuring high levels of literacy
attainment, beginning with the earliest years, both at home and abroad pays
dividends in promoting educational attainment and creating a more capable
workforce.
Improving
literacy rates is a massive goal which requires more than one day of activism,
but today is be a good time to start. And what better place to start than with
early interventions?
-
Megan Carolan, Policy Research Coordinator, NIEER
