Intro to Every Child Ready to Read
March 9th, 2005 by Barbara MacikasEarly literacy trainers Saroj Ghoting and Renea Arnold presented Spring Symposium attendees with an information-packed session that provided an overview of the PLA-ALSC Every Child Ready to Read @ your library project. Leading off with discouraging facts and stats about the literacy crisis in America, including: 20% of elementary school children have serious reading problems; 25% of the adult work force doesn’t read well enough to do their jobs; and for children who are poor readers, intervention before age 9 can help them attain average reading skills while for those over 9 who do not receive help, 75% will suffer long-term problems. Perhaps most distressing, there is a 90% probability that a child will remain a poor reader at the end of the 4th grade if that child is a poor reader at the end of the 1st grade. Reading problems for these children carry over into high school.
The Every Child Ready to Read program began as a way to help public libraries address this crisis. The program trains librarians to help parents and caregivers, the people who spend the most time with their children, help children get ready to read. Librarians using the ECRR program emphasize for parents the 6 skills their children need to get ready to read: print motivation; phonological awareness; vocabulary; print awareness; narrative skills and letter knowledge. In their program, Saroj and Renea provided examples and model the training librarians will use. Their energetic and enthusiastic presentation had librarians on their feet. The demonstrations were so engaging that the AV technicians in the room joined in at several points.
PLA maintains a web page with a wealth of information about early literacy and the ECRR program. To learn more click here.
PLA continues ECRR training at the Spring Symposium tomorrow and Wednesday.
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