Last week’s education summit in Anchorage explored how to make the Anchorage School District (ASD) a world class district. Although I only watched about an hour of the second day and read the newspaper accounts of what took place, it is clear that there was a fair amount of attention given to the the need for ASD to have a more rigorous curriculum. The logic of this is that if you push a little harder, then the students will have greater success. I suspect that most of the teachers in ASD and here on the Kenai would dispute this logic. For after all, each year we have plenty of graduates finding success after high school-for this group the curriculum works.
So why then, do a portion of our students struggle in school and never, like a skiff in the Inlet, get up on step? Is it about brain power where only the brightest students succeed? Absolutely not. This question is of course a complicated one and when you ask educators why this is the case, you will get a variety of answers. But most will point to what happens with our students before they start school. Our youngsters who arrive in kindergarten with good literacy skills are the ones who are likely to do fine in school while those who lack in this area will often struggle. I am sure that there are places that we can refine our curriculum to better prepare students for what is next. But we also need to ensure that parents are devoting a lot of time to speaking and reading to their children before they start school. There is more to ensuring success for students than teaching algebra in 7th grade.
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As a new parent to KPBSD with a kindergartener that has a looong way to go still, I guess my question is, when you say that, ” each year we have plenty of graduates finding success after high school”- in what context is “success” used here? What does success look like? Does the district have statistics on where the graduates are at after high school?
And also while we all know that it is necessary for parents to be speaking and reading to their children before they start school, how can we, as a community, encourage and support that?
Thanks for the comments. Yes, we do have statistics to show that the majority of our students are going off to college or trade school.
Of the 2010 grads (based on a sampling of aboout 40% of this class), 57% went on to higher ed, 8% went to vocational school, 9% went to more immediate job training and 3% went to the military. It is not clear what the other 23% are doing. While it would be speculative to state that this 23% were the ones who showed up in kindergarten with low literacy skills, it would be interesting to find this out.
To speak to your question about where to go in your community to find or give support for early literacy–I’ve been consistently impressed with the work done at our local HeadStart preschool program. They provide a quality foundation in pre-literacy skills, math thinking, and general school/social skills. In Homer, there is a group that has formed called “Best Beginnings” that is a collaborative, community based group of citizens who have tasked themselves with finding creative ways to support healthy families and a network of support for those raising young children. I don’t know which community you are in, so I’m speaking to what I know of locally.
I think the most important thing we can all do is to support those around us in the best way we know. Taking 5-10 minutes every night to read to our young children, and to help them read aloud to us, is one of the most important things we can do to increase their confidence, their skills, and their love of literacy.
thanks for the comment- I agree that the aquisition of literacy must be approached from several angles.
The art of reading begins with the art of conversation. It is hard for a student to master the art of critcally listening to what a book has to offer and responding reflectively if they do not acquire and hone that skill through the use of oral language. I often wonder if our digital natives are losing the art of dialogue?
Thanks Karl- I fully agree that the digital world, in many cases, makes students literacy acquistion more difficult. I am convinced that language patterns need to be established in the brain as soon as possible- this of course occures from what is heard and read. These language patterns are the root of good writing. The rich language of classic literature while eschewed because it is old or passe, is a great way to learn these patterns.