Unleash Your Thoughts: Access to Learning to Read is a Civil Rights Issue.

This article is part of our series Unleash Your Thoughts: Dive in, Comment, and Let's Spark a Conversation!

Yes, there is a period at the end of that title, because it is a statement. It is a fact. Jenny Mackenzie and Levar Burton wrote and produced an amazing film, “The Right to Read,” that addresses this issue. “The Right to Read shares the stories of an NAACP activist, a teacher, and two American families who fight to provide our youngest generation with the most foundational indicator of life-long success: the ability to read.” If you haven’t had an opportunity to view the film, I completely recommend you take an hour out of your day, if you have a screening available in your area or can request a screening for you and your friends, coworkers and family. No one is too young or too old to get involved.

The concerns over reading ability in America are not new to me. But the statistics that are thrown out throughout this film, the disparities that show up from school to school, they’re unacceptable and we have to do something to stop this never ending cycle of sending our students out into the world without the resources and the skills to be successful. “56% of Black 4th graders, 50% of Hispanic 4th graders, and 57% of American Indian/Alaska Native 4th graders are reading “below basic.”” The film explains that below basic is synonymous with not being able to read. “52% of 4th graders eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are reading below basic levels.” This shows that the lack of reading instruction and resources isn’t just impacting race, but also income. Free and reduced prices for lunch are available for those families living at or below the poverty line. The impact is widespread.

In a discussion with the 2Rev team and contracted coaches the other night one of our coaches, Noah Klein said, “Reading permeates every aspect of the day.” The reality of that statement hits like a hammer. If you make it out of school and you do not know how to read, your ability to function in everyday life is minimal. So much around us involves reading. How as educators, leaders, law makers, and parents are we allowing this cycle to continue and just shrugging our shoulders when we hear the statistics?

Is it a school problem? Bad parenting? Based on money and access? An inconsistent and flailing education system? All of the above? 

Is it fixable? Based on the film, there are definitely ways that it can be fixed. So, what do we do? Where do we start? 

As I said, this problem isn’t new, and it has been seen in schools for years. I was a middle school reading teacher and coach for 17 years. I have been trained in multiple curricula, the Science of Reading, various remediation techniques and computer programs, have tested students in every possible way with every testing and intervention program you could ever think of. I have seen children come into 5th grade as non-readers and have also been in schools where the expectation is that all 5th graders read at a high school level. 

One thing was consistent with my experiences, no matter the state, the school, or the parents- if the students had access to text that they were interested in reading, with characters they could identify with, discussing situations that they were familiar with or intrigued with, they were hungry to read and dive into those books. They would figure out how to understand what was going on and they would work as hard as they could to be in that book. In Chicago we had one copy of each book and we would put it on the overhead projector, and read it aloud together. Kids who ran the streets and raised themselves sat in a circle on the floor or on top of the cabinets and desks to get as close as possible, right beside the kids with lawyers for parents and adequate books at home, and we read. We broke down sentences and paragraphs, we talked about the characters as if they were family, and they were excited. We dove into the setting, learned the history, and then we would write about the books, and I could pull out the best writing they had ever completed from those moments. 

When I was teaching in Atlanta, the school I was with had book choice, huge classroom libraries and the school had an amazing culture of the LOVE of reading. Students who had never finished a book, would finish a graphic novel and get so excited about the next one that they would beg my co-teacher to skip recess and read. When the books were available, the books that they wanted to read, you couldn’t distract them with any other nonsense. 

However, the opposite is also true. At a school in Chicago where there were no books that were less than 20 years old, and were falling apart, there was a common theme of “I hate reading.” I had to hunt down books, write grants for novel sets, work to find stories they could connect to and even when I found them, the culture was so far gone from reading it would take a whole parade and some serious incentives to get them to read with me.

Access to books is a necessity. I don’t mean just any books. These “banned books” and the books that may look “too easy” are probably the BEST books to hook kids into reading. These are books they connect with. That connection is nearly impossible to force, and is not easy to create with bland books that talk about things they will never understand or experience. Some kids have a natural love of reading, but a struggling reader is not going to pick up a classic and be excited to dive into countless pages of words that don’t even sound remotely familiar. 

What do we do? What can we do? Where do we begin? 
I would love all comments, insights, ideas, resources. 
This cannot keep being the norm. 
These statistics have to change, or nothing else will change. 
Reading is fundamental and for our society to succeed in all realms, we MUST end this epidemic.