Guilford County organizations work to improve children’s literacy rates
By Elisa Mattingly // Staff Writer
Bringing literacy to all: that’s what the teams at Reading Connections and Ready for School, Ready for Life are striving to do. Reading Connections, an organization focused on adult literacy in Guilford County, and Ready for School, Ready for Life, an organization focused on child literacy in Guilford County, have partnered to provide proper resources to families with babies and small children in order to prepare them for kindergarten.
According to the 2016-2017 Teaching Strategies GOLD Growth Reports for Guilford County, “60.7 percent of four-year-olds ready to transition to kindergarten are below widely held expectations for their age” in literacy.
As part of a service learning class, several High Point University students have become involved with these organizations and have spent time volunteering with the children in these programs.
While their goals to benefit childhood literacy in Guilford County are ardent, Michelle Chapin, Project Manager for Ready for School, Ready for Life, and Adriana Adams, Family Literacy Manager for Reading Connections, bring different reasons as to why they strive to help.
Many families feel they are not capable of providing their children with the skills necessary to enter kindergarten. This can be due to their lack of education or English being their second language.
“Some of these parents are afraid that if they speak to their child in Spanish, they’re putting them farther back,” Adams said. “So, they put them in front of the TV and say, ‘Maybe they’ll learn some English.’”
This practice of letting the television teach the child is hindering the child in more than just language development.
“They might be picking up on some English [from television], but what they’re not getting is that interaction,” Adams said. “They’re not getting emotionally prepared for kindergarten.”
This means teachers have to rework lesson plans to facilitate the needs of these children who are not able to begin learning grade-level literacy skills.
“Instead of starting with ABC’s and 123’s, [teachers] are having to start even further back,” Adams said. “This is a book. This is a pencil. This is how you hold a book.”
Reading Connections and Ready for School are providing parents with programs that help them take an active role in their child’s early literacy development. Parents are learning how to provide the interaction necessary for proper cognitive development.
“It’s not just teaching these parents English so that they can talk to their children. It’s saying that their home language is a great place to start,” Adams said.
By providing parents with the tools to help their children, they gain the confidence that they are able to help their children learn and grow.
There are several factors that can make Reading Connections’ and Ready for School’s job a challenge. Because many of these families are immigrants, it is a risk each day to leave their homes. Something as simple as going to an after school program may jeopardize their safety.
“It’s been challenging this past year,” Adams said. “We’re making sure families feel safe when they come and making sure that they have their basic needs met, so that they can focus on their learning.”
It can also be difficult for families to make time in their busy schedules to come to a literacy program or to allow for the necessary amount of time to aid in their child’s literacy development.
“One of the challenges is family engagement,” Chapin explained. “Families are busy. They don’t necessarily think that what we have to offer is what they need. We need to listen and learn from them in terms of what their needs are.”
Although there are frequent challenges, both organizations find that the final product of their work is what makes all of the struggles worth it. Seeing families take an active role in their child’s learning, when they were so hesitant to do so before, is an exciting moment for both the family and the organization.
“The most rewarding part is seeing families succeed,” Adams said. “Seeing a mother come to our program and read a book to her child for the first time is just a really beautiful thing to be a part of. There’s been a lot of struggle this past year in the immigrant community. Helping a family get through that and being a part of that process is very rewarding.”
Beyond the help that the organization can give, it is also important that these families build relationships with each other in order to build necessary support systems. The confidence, support and social networks that families are cultivating through these programs are necessary tools. The most important aspect of the program, however, is how they are helping to provide the resources to aid in children’s cognitive development and cultivation of literacy skills.
“The program brought together two High Point families that didn’t know each other, even though they were actually neighbors,” Chapin said. “It is all about the future of our community. The infants of today will someday be adults. We want them all to be healthy and have productive lives, whatever that is for them.”