We believe reading is the foundation on which all other learning develops. We don’t mean academics and test scores.
I asked Merriam-Webster what it means to learn: to gain knowledge or understanding of or skill in by study, instruction, or life experience. It is true, one needs to learn how to read in a systematic scientific way that compounds through exposure and practice – letter recognition, word development, decoding, punctuation, fluency, comprehension, etc.
Reading is not innate to being human, like speaking or breathing. It requires specific teaching and brain rewiring. But when we learn how to do it well, it becomes just like breathing and speaking. A lot of us do it without even realizing we are doing it. And many of us, 54% of adult Americans, struggle. In Chicago, only 41% of students are considered grade-level proficient in reading.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Statistics and data matter. Being able to compare and understand statistics and data matters more. That is reading. The nationwide focus on reading is evident in the myriad of articles, see one here, about it that are sent to me weekly by those who share my interests in this topic.
Yet the trendy obsession with data and optimization is missing the forest for the trees when it comes to reading. We don’t read to decode and pass tests. We read to understand, comprehend, learn, infer, discuss, compare, grow, and be. We are all reading more words but comprehending less.
Stop Saying Kids Can’t Read
I love this quote in the WIRED article “Stop Saying Kids Can’t Read,” (another article sent to me) from Candace Hamberlin, an eighth-grade English teacher at Jefferson County Middle School in Mississippi. “It’s as simple as understanding a conversation. How many times have you talked to someone and you’re talking about two different things?” she says. “All those skills from reading just transfer to life completely.”
What WITS means when we say reading matters is in that quote. It is the joy, pleasure, and confidence that reading develops. Our program is very effective at developing foundational literacy skills. Data from our last school year showed that 27% of our students entered our program as proficient readers; by the end, 62% of students measured proficient when compared to national reading proficiency measures.
More importantly, though, is that 91% of WITS students report having positive attitudes towards reading at the end of the program year. When someone enjoys doing something, they will do it more. One of the strongest indicators of becoming a skilled reader is reading for enjoyment. At WITS, we like to say “reading for fun!”
The simple joy of sitting with a book, and when we’re young, next to a caring adult, is what makes us readers. Or if you are lucky enough to be in a book club, sitting with other adults and discussing books is the pleasure of reading.
WITS works its very best to make readers, not just out of our students, but also the mentors who encourage them weekly. We focus on the simple sauce of becoming someone who comprehends and internalizes written text: books that our students want to read, consistent and dedicated time to reading, discussing what has been read, trusted support, repeat.
The forest and the tree.
