According to a recent report from the Annie E. Casey foundation, 68% of America’s 4th graders read below grade level last school year. The necessity of literacy skills in today’s society makes this statistic troublesome. Reading skills strongly impact students’ academic success as well as their emotional and social well-being. Poor reading skills impact students in the following ways:

1. Academically

Because reading skills are easily the most necessary skill for academic success, students that do not read at grade level will undoubtedly struggle in school. This is especially true for students after the 3rd grade. In 4th grade, teachers’ spend significantly less time helping students learn to read, and the curriculum shifts in that students must use their reading skills to stay caught up in almost every subject. For this reason reading skills must be at grade level in 4th grade- if not students’ begin to fall behind in almost every subject, not just language arts.

2. Emotionally

Poor reading skills also impact students emotionally by negatively influencing their self esteem. Struggling with a skill that many of their peers pick up naturally makes many students feel incapable and unintelligent. This is unfortunate because reading problems are rarely a result of the student’s personal effort. On average, 70% of students will learn to read regardless of instruction; however, 30% of students require an explicit, step-by-step approach to succeed with reading. This type of instruction is needed for 30% of students is because of the prevalence of language processing disorders (such as dyslexia, specific language impairment, and auditory processing disorder).

Because 70% of students should learn to read regardless of instruction, it is startling that 68% of 4th grade students are not reading at grade level. Only 30% of these students should be struggling. This exposes that there is a weakness in reading instruction. There is a clear need for teachers to improve the way they teach reading. Especially since ineffective instruction can easily hurt a student’s self-esteem by leaving them with a feeling of inadequacy.

3. Socially

Poor reading skills also impact students socially. A common finding in sociology and psychology is that students naturally become friends with peers that are similar to them in academic standing. In correlation, academic success is often tied to involvement in other positive activities and a sharp decline in truancy, drug use, and other types of experimentation.

When students are not provided with the proper instruction needed to obtain effective reading skills, it is difficult for them to make friends with peers that encourage them to make positive life decisions.

The Value of Literacy Skills

It is amazing how large of an impact reading skills play in the academic, social and emotional well-being of every individual. Those who naturally develop reading skills do not often realize the positive impact these skills play in their life. However, when we look at the risks of students who do not successfully develop reading skills, the importance of literacy and what it adds to your life becomes very obvious.

To ensure your students can enjoy a lifetime of learning and success through effective reading skills, learn more about Reading Horizons reading program for building a solid reading foundation for a future of reading success!

With the right reading instruction it is possible for almost anyone to learn to read- regardless of age. These 3 stories reveal it is possible for adults to learn to read despite past experiences and background.

Story #1: Jahara

Earlier this week the New York Times published an article about the adult reading program at the New York Public Library. The article highlighted one adult’s journey of learning to read as an adult immigrant to New York City from his farming village in Gambia, Africa. Jahara came to America and as he gradually built a new life for himself, his reading difficulties continued to get in the way. He finally decided he needed to change his potential and started participating in the New York Public Library’s where a volunteer tutor helped him improve his reading skills. 

This article easily caught the attention of Reading Horizons, which supplies the adult reading program used at the New York Public Library. Reading Horizons products help teach reading to adults like the one in this article nationwide and worldwide. It’s exciting to read about someone’s life that has been dramatically improved by the reading program Reading Horizons works to develop and perfect.

Story #2: Tina

Tina moved to Canada in May of 2007, she was a single mom of 3 children and was struggling to afford a place to live and lacked literacy skills. She enrolled in an ESL reading program the following September and tells of her experience:

“…I started attending the ESL program at Northern Lakes College in La Crete. I completed the ESL program in January, and [will complete additional] courses in June.

I feel that I have learned many new things. I [had] never attended English classes before I came to Canada. In the Reading Horizons program, I tested [at] grade 11.3 after five weeks of [taking] the lessons, and I am very proud of myself.

Everyone has been very helpful here, including my teachers. I want to continue my education [next] September.”

Story #3: Larry

To read and view additional stories of adults that successfully learned to read click here.

Today I read an article about this years Educational Testing Service’s symposium titled “Advancing Learning for Our Diverse Adult Population.”   I’m always excited to see articles that discuss the problems I see everyday because I hope the awareness of these problems will increase.  The article discussed the current literacy problems in American Adults by explaining that a recent study of American adult literacy from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that “about half of adults performed below the level needed to navigate today’s complex society.”  The article discussed the problems this condition presents to the economy and how to improve adult education. 

A lot of the article focused on Adult’s going back to college or why they choose not to do so.  I thought it was interesting because the article discussed the benefits of developing a different model for obtaining college degrees for adult learners.  Dr. Thomas Bailey of Columbia University discussed the problems Adults face when going back to college by saying: “The traditional associate’s degree doesn’t fit very well for adult students because many enter with weak academic skills, have less time and incentive to invest in general education courses, have difficulties adjusting to traditional schedules, and state funding policies can work against them since it’s often influenced by the traditional college student model.” Bailey offered this solution for Adult education: “Educational programs must be tailored to the specific needs of working adults but have not been in the past… At community colleges, adults can acquire the skills and credentials they need for the workforce and new jobs, so we need to change how adults get their credentials outside the traditional model… Adult education programs need to be flexible and training-focused and include certificates as well as non-credit instruction.”  I think this is a good idea.  If I was trying to go back to school as an adult with children and was trying to provide for that family as well I would be frustrated taking General Education classes that didn’t directly apply to what I was trying to accomplish by attending college.  Adults usually have a better idea of what they want to do with their life and career then young adults, thus the necessity to explore many fields of knowledge may be extraneous.  I think it would be beneficial to create a program for adult’s that is more specific and training based. 

But there are also needs to make improvements in Adult Literacy for the 50% of adults that struggle with literacy in order for them to succeed in obtaining college degree’s regardless of the requirements.  I’m always impressed by the people who call in wanting to open an Adult Literacy Center.  I also realized the need for a quality adult reading program the other day when reading the comments on this blog titled, The Best Websites to Help Beginning Readers. There were multiple comments on this blog post from readers who wanted a list more catered to adult reading programs.  I added a comment with a link to our website but its disheartening to know there are so many people who could benefit from our program if they only knew about it.  The other day our ESL specialist was reading a forum on reading programs and was frustrated that people weren’t talking about us.  She couldn’t join the conversation because her comments were declined since she was writing about the company she works for but out of frustration she said: “I don’t even want to talk about us because of business; I just want people to know about us because we could help them!”  It’s hard to know you could be helping so many people.  If they only knew…  If you are passionate about literacy, pass this article along or link to it.

Watch this video of one Adult who learned to read with our program: