Parents make THE difference

BOOK NOTES by Joan Ruddiman

09/04/2003

It is September. Even the air signals "School!" Parents, for the most part, are happy to see their offspring going back to school. Teachers, also for the most part, are happy to welcome them back. However, parents shouldn't think that they are just warming the bench while the "A" team takes over. Some fascinating evidence confirms what we've always known. In the game of life and learning, parents are the main players who get their kids to the major leagues.

Over the past week, three leading and very diverse news sources reported and commented on the hard evidence that what happens in the home impacts success in school.

First look at the data as reported in the front-page lead in the current Reading Today newspaper of the International Reading Association. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress scores are in for the 2002 school year. As tests go, the NAEP is pretty cool as the purpose is to find patterns in teaching and learning across the nation rather than looking at scores school by school. The NAEP test is given to clusters of kids within a city or region and looks for just what the name says — educational progress. It is the "how are we doing" assessment of the country rather than a school, district, or state.

As the Reading Today headline proclaimed and as the mainstream press reported, there is "good news, bad news." The good news is that the scores indicate educational progress has been made at the fourth and eighth grades. The average reading scores have risen — overall higher than a decade ago. But twelfth grade average scores dropped and are lower than in 1992.

In order to fully assess how the nation is doing in the teaching and learning business, NAEP scores are analyzed by gender, race and socioeconomic factors. For example, in 2002, females had higher average reading scores than males at all three grades. At grades four and eight, both white and black students had higher average scores in 2002 than in 1992. But here's the bad news. Blacks and Hispanics lag behind in all three grade levels. As Reading Today reports, "The score gap between white and black fourth and eighth grades ... is not significantly different from 1992."

Of course, the next question is "So what do these scores tell us?" International Reading Association Executive Director Alan E. Farstrup noted that the "continuing national emphasis on the importance of reading achievement for younger students in the United States seems to be reflected in gains for fourth-graders."

Lesley Mandel Morrow of Rutgers University Graduate School of Education and current IRA president comments that "the mixed results shown in the report indicate that we need to increase education funding for quality professional development to make sure teachers get the ongoing skills they need to address the complex needs of children, especially adolescents and adults."

To further explore what the NAEP scores tell us, look at the next report, this one from the Wall Street Journal titled "Trying to Close the Stubborn Learning Gap." Reporter June Kronholz zeros in on the disturbing data that indicates blacks and Hispanic children, though making some gains in reading, are still behind white children. From myriad research, the answer to "why is this?" become clear.

Parents take note: Early-childhood activities that researchers say contribute to the learning gap between white and minority children include:

Parents read to their children six times weekly

Children visit a public library

Children attend preschool

Children watch less than 13 average hours of TV weekly

Kids who do well in school came to school knowing more words — more than twice what struggling students knew when they began kindergarten. They had what the Department of Education calls "print familiarity," which means they follow a page of print from left to right, top to bottom, and turn the page as the story continues. Nationwide, only 20 percent of black children have all three pre-reading skills compared with 45 percent of whites.

As Kronholz notes from her interviews with researchers and educators, "Youngsters who have grown up with books, visits to the library and nightly story hours with mom or dad are able to spurt ahead."

Obviously, parents are not only the primary caretaker but also the most important educator of their children. What happens in the home before children ever come to school impacts school success.

Now to the question, "So what can be done?" Look to William Raspberry, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post. He spotlights a book by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley revealingly titled, "Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children." The authors focus on the heart of literacy — language skills — concluding, to put it simply, "the number of words a young child hears at home may be the most important predictor of the children's future academic, economic and social success." They further note, disturbingly, that "the difference in the amount of verbal stimulation received by children of poor families and those of the middle class is so huge as to be essentially unbridgeable."

Raspberry notes, "It is beyond unrealistic to expect school to fix children who enter school — even preschool — already behind. (Emphasis his own.)

But here's the good news. Knowledge is power. Parents, for the most part, want what is the very best for their child. Once informed, how it is simple to follow some rather basic guidelines to ensure your child's academic success. For every parent who turns off the TV, reads to their child, goes exploring in the public library, sings and talks and plays with their child — those NAEP scores will show that as a nation we are making strong educational progress.

Raspberry, a black man who has moved far beyond his Mississippi roots, is taking another bold step. His column on this subject, titled "Teaching parents new tricks" ends with his conclusion and proposed solution.

"I've concluded that it may be easier to teach the parents some of the necessary 'tricks' than to rescue children who've already fallen behind. Indeed, I believe it so strongly, I've decided to invest time and personal resources to see how much meaningful difference can be accomplished in the small community that happens to be my Mississippi home town."

He promises to "let you know how it goes." I'll bet he's successful. Sometimes all it takes is pointing out the obvious.

Joan Ruddiman is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.

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