By: Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
Stamina.
That's the word that came to mind as I looked over the most recent reading and mathematics test scores of elementary and middle school students on the national test usually described as the "nation's report card."
The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed a continued upward climb of math scores while scores in reading remained largely unchanged.
For the most part this is good news—and yet, as with so much about elementary and secondary schooling, a fuller examination of the test results underscores two particular things.
One is the importance of never taking progress for granted.
The second is always being ready to resume attacking the serious problems that continue to exist.
In other words, we should always keep our reservoir of stamina full because in national terms, particularly for African Americans and Latino Americans, educational progress can truly be measured only over the long haul.
The NAEP results show that blacks and Latinos have shared in the general rise in both subjects' scores in the last decade. But they also show that, despite progress made, their scores continue to lag significantly behind those of white students.
For example, in reading, while 39% of white and 37% of Asian fourth graders were proficient in reading, only 15 percent of Latino students were, and only 13 percent of black students were.
Numerous studies have shown that children who cannot read on grade level by the fourth grade are very likely headed for academic failure.
You see, the progress made also dramatizes the need for us—and by that I mean we adults—to do much better at pushing the message about the importance of preparing our children to learn in the months and years ahead.
Closing the reading gap between African-American youngsters and their peers is one reason the National Urban League, State Farm Insurance, and Scholastic, Inc., the global children's publishing and media company, have joined forces to launch Read and Rise Magazine.
Read and Rise Magazine is an early literacy publication designed to appeal to African-American children aged three to five with culturally-enriched stories and bright, colorful illustrations excerpted from popular award-winning children's books. It's fundamental purpose is to encourage children to read aloud, and in that way help build their vocabulary and facility in speaking, the keys to becoming successful readers and learners.
An equally important goal is to help their parents and caregivers introduce them to literature and inspire them to develop a lifelong love of reading.
Published quarterly, Read and Rise will be distributed free by the National Urban League through its 105-affiliate network across the country, and by nearly a score of African-American civic associations.
These groups, including the Congress of National Black Churches, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, black fraternities and sororities, the National Alliance of Black School Educators and other black professional associations, have joined the League in its broader "Achievement Matters Campaign" to spur scholastic accomplishment in black elementary and secondary school pupils.
Akimi Gibson, vice president and general manager for early childhood education at Scholastic, points out that Read and Rise Magazine is the first publication of it's kind for African-American families and children with the literature, robust vocabulary-building activities, and content "to help children develop a deep passion for learning during the years critical to a child's development."
The quarterly magazine will complement the 750,000 Read and Rise parenting guides that have been distributed throughout the country via our "Achievement Matters" program during the past year. The guide offers parents practical age-appropriate tips and fun activities to help children from infancy to age nine become good readers. It shows parents how to integrate reading and language development skills into common everyday activities—such as using phonetics to read street signs, having children write out grocery lists, and spelling the names of various household items.
To further promote the importance of reading and early literacy, Urban League affiliates will soon offer training sessions to parents and other caregivers in their local communities on the most effective methods for helping their children learn how to read.
The guide is available free-of-cost by contacting any of our 105 local Urban League affiliates across the country, or the guide can be downloaded from the National Urban League website: (http://www.nul.org/programs/education/read_rise.html).
The NAEP test scores remind us how much yet has to be done to give the mass of African-American children a chance to contribute to America's growth and face the world on their own terms.
Our Read and Rise initiative is the Urban League's declaration, and that of our collaborators, that we've got the stamina to continue working to close the "equality gaps" in education and other sectors of American society.
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