According K-PREP assessment scores, about 70 percent of Kentucky children starting fourth grade can’t read proficiently. That doesn’t bode well for their future success as research indicates that those students are four times less likely to graduate high school on time.
Two bills before the 2022 General Assembly seek to boost literacy among the state’s young learners. House Bill 226 and Senate Bill 9 would create Read to Succeed programs designed to strengthen reading instruction for children in kindergarten through third grade, and train teachers on evidence-based instructional methods and assessment tools designed to foster literacy skills and identify those students who are struggling. The legislation includes millions in funding for the initiative in each year of the biennium.
“This additional investment in early reading is absolutely critical,” says Felicia Cumings Smith, a former school teacher and administrator who is now president of the Louisville-based National Center for Families Learning. “I want to applaud the Kentucky legislature for keeping their focus on early reading efforts.”
Smith says the proposals take a fresh and broad look at instruction for the teaching of reading. While the bills seek to include parents in activities that can nurture young readers at home, she says the legislation could do more to promote overall family literacy.
“Many young children who are struggling to read may come from homes where there are adults… that have struggled to read,” says Smith. “Literacy is the one thing that we know that can really transform the trajectory of families such that they have stronger economic outcomes.”
Smith says a focus on promoting literacy in children through to adult learners is also key to creating a more prosperous state.
“There are about 317,000 Kentuckians that do not have a high school diploma or a GED… We know that many of those people struggle to read,” she says. “Think about that as an implication for economic outcomes for the commonwealth.”
Moving Parents from Involvement to Engagement
A comprehensive, multigenerational approach to literacy is at the heart of the work done by the National Center for Family Learning for more than 30 years.
Smith joined the organization last fall, becoming only the second leader of NCFL. In addition to working as a classroom teacher and curriculum coach in Jefferson County Public Schools, Smith also held positions with the Kentucky Department of Education, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Geographic Society.
“I’ve had a chance to see education from multiple perspectives and that’s what I hope to bring to NCFL,” she says. “I’ve never been afraid to take the next step or take a risk and just try something new.”
Throughout her career, Smith has advocated for more parental engagement in children’s’ education. Beyond surface-level involvement with school activities, Smith says engagement means parents are partners in the academic endeavors of their children and the schools they attend.
“Engagement builds capacity of not only the parents to understand how to work with the educators,” she says, “but it also builds the capacity of the educators to know how to shift their mindsets oftentimes about how we think about parents.”
Although a lifelong educator, Smith admits she didn’t really know what her high-school age daughter does at school all day. That changed, she says, thanks to the COVID pandemic. With extended school closures and remote learning, she says she and many other parents discovered what exactly happens during a school day.
“They got an up and close look at what was happening for their child and the types of learning experiences that were occurring,” say says.
Despite the challenges of non-traditional instruction for families and schools, Smith says parents now understand the academic instruction better, and teachers have valuable insights on how to involve parents more in their child’s learning.
“NTI and being at home during school closure really shifted how parents became engaged in the learning process because there was greater transparency and greater visibility to the types of learning experiences that were happening,” Smith says. “I believe now more than ever… family involvement and family engagement are at a peak because of what we’ve learned out of the pandemic.”
The trick, says Smith, is to maintain that level of engagement now that students are back in the classroom. She says NCFL is helping teachers and schools make learning more participatory so that parents and caregivers can continue to be involved in their child’s academic success.
Those strategies could include more high-tech approaches to learning. She says some schools are using virtual reality and augmented reality activities that push the boundaries of learning for children and adults. Smith says digital literacy skills are becoming as important for learners as traditional literacy.
