The answers don't come easily or in only one flavor when it comes to improving the overall record for children learning to read, many educators say. Reid Lyon, a researcher with the National Institutes of Health, says that for about 10% to 15% of all children, "reading is one of the most difficult tasks that they will have to master throughout their life." .
West Allis School Superintendent Harold Sloan says: "I don't think anyone really knows how kids learn how to read. It's extremely complicated. I guess I think it's just too easy of an answer to say if we do thus and so, then all of the reading woes will disappear. If it were that simple, it would have happened a long, long time ago." But there clearly are factors that improve the chances of success. Here's a look at some of them. The starting point for turning out children who read seems so simple:.
• Parents who read.
• Parents who read to their kids long before the kids reach school age. .
• Parents who read for their own use, so that children see them reading.
• Parents who take an active, constructive interest in their children's development as readers. .
Parents who play such roles put their children at strong advantages when it comes to learning to read. "Absolutely," agreed Emily Wurtz, senior education associate with the National Education Goals Panel. The sentiment is echoed over and over, across the spectrum of educators. If this seems obvious, it is also one of the biggest hurdles not crossed by a large number of children facing reading problems. Progress has been made, research for the goals panel suggests, but it is slow. In a recent report, the national panel, whose members include Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, said the proportion of families where parents read or tell stories to their children regularly rose from 66% in 1993 to 72% in 1996.
Reading problems can occur no matter what the economic or educational facts about a child's family.
The research literature of higher education contains many valuable findings that can help us answer this question and provide essential guidance to significantly improve our students' learning. ...