EDITOR’S NOTE: A Town Hall on the student reading crisis — and how you can help
In just 90 minutes this week, you could become inspired to help the community in ways you never imagined.
This relates to a crisis.
Our youngsters in elementary school are far behind on reading.
That doesn’t mean they read four books instead of the assigned five.
Or that they didn’t complete a homework assignment.
It means they can’t make sense of words and sentences as they should.
And that’s a crisis.
Don’t take my word for it.
A panel of experts is ready to tell you in no-nonsense terms about the challenge.
They’ll do so at Salem Reporter’s Town Hall – CRISIS: Student Reading.
This starts at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, at the Elsinore Theatre. There is no admission charge.
Crisis: Student reading
Time: Thursday, Feb. 5, 6-7:30 p.m.
Location: Elsinore Theatre in downtown Salem, 170 High St. S.E.
Tickets: Free ticket required in advance.
Translation: Interpreters will provide live interpretation into Spanish; hearing sets available at no cost.
Broadcast: Live on Capital Community at Channel 21 and on YouTube.
This costs only a few moments of your time and your attention.
In many ways, this is a crisis hard to see for the jungle of government jargon. Percentile rank. Proficiencies. Benchmarks. Interventions.
Regardless of the phrasing, this matters to you, whether you are a parent, a grandparent, an empty nester, an employer.
Today’s elementary students are tomorrow’s high school graduates. They are the coming pool of college students, soldiers, and workers. No matter their path, they need an ability to read.
Our panelists will spend 90 minutes with you, speaking in plain terms about three topics.
They will tell you how we got to a point where 7 out of 10 elementary students in local schools are behind in reading.
They will tell you how the education community in Salem is mobilizing – what’s changing and what will be changed.
They will tell you how you can be part of that change – specific ideas that you, your relatives, your neighbors can use to boost students along to more reading success.
Our panelists, each volunteering their time for this event, will be:
- Andrea Castañeda, superintendent, Salem-Keizer School District.
- Jessica DeFrancisco, third grade teacher, Sumpter Elementary School.
- Dana Nerenberg, Oregon director, Center for Early Literacy and Learning Success.
Throughout, you’ll likely learn factors you haven’t heard about before.
You’ll likely hear optimism tempered with patience to turn this educational vessel.
You’ll get a good sense of why this isn’t something not to be left only to schools and teachers. To fix this, the entire community – you, me and others – has to say, “Let’s do this.”
You’ll hear that the overall scores for local students have ticked up. That’s great. But it’s a bit like being in debt and then paying off some so you’re not so much in debt. You’re still in the hole – work remains.
And they will face live questions from readers, the audience and our own panel of Managing Editor Rachel Alexander and Senior Reporter Abbey McDonald.
If you’d like to get a sense of what’s expected in third grade, you can look at some sample questions below.
READ IT: Sample test questions
One fact is clear – this isn’t a political issue.
That third grader needing to catch up doesn’t care if you are a conservative or a liberal, Republican or Democrat or independent. What they want, what they need, is all of us in their corner.
I ask you to block out time for this Town Hall. Our panelists and the staff at Salem Reporter are conducting this because we judge this is an important moment for the community – for our children.
Contact Editor Les Zaitz: [email protected]
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Les Zaitz is editor and owner of Salem Reporter. He co-founded the news organization in 2018. He has been a journalist in Oregon for more than 50 years in both daily and community newspapers and digital news services. He is nationally recognized for his commitment to local journalism.
7 Comments
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What is the nature of how we can help? Will they be telling us about volunteer opportunities? how to donate money or other resources? how to help our children or influence other youngsters? I don’t need to spend 90 minutes hearing about the problem if I don’t know that there is an option to help that is possibly appropriate for me.
Our panelists will be providing concrete suggestions on how anyone can help in small ways and large. Collectively, we all want to work together to make something happen – not just talk. – Les Zaitz, editor, Salem Reporter
Will the presentation be recorded so those of us, like me, who can’t attend can learn what we might do?
Perhaps training in the same CORE method local teachers use to teach reading could be given to volunteers who might help young students with reading.
I’m really hoping that the typos in the sample third grade test provided above — dates and measures in the spacewalk segment — are simply artifacts of using a different platform for the text. In any case, thanks for providing this public opportunity, Salem Reporter team.
I look forward to hearing from the panelists tomorrow evening, why we have so many students who are not passing this assessment, what the district is currently doing to mitigate this situation, and what we as community members can do to contribute to better literacy for our collective students. I am a former 1/2 Grade teacher and Reading Specialist in another school district, who worked with many children who were learning English as a second language, as well as English/Spanish speaking children who were from low income households. I proctored many state wide assessments in the spring of every year, and I know that there are many adults who would struggle to pass the assessments our 3rd Grade students are being asked to take. I am not all surprised that so many of our students are not passing these assessments because of their life experiences, lack of early literacy in their preschool years, as well as not understanding how to take these computer based assessments. I applaud the School District for implementing comprehensive teacher development programs, as well as getting books into the hands of some of our youngest community members hands through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. I appreciate you offering this opportunity for the community to come together and hear how we can move forward to change outcomes for our collective children. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. Having read the sample test, I can imagine some of what you experienced. This is definitely not a quick-fix situation, as your comment makes clear.