Reach Out and Read National News

usinfo.state.gov

Enhanced reading skills also lay foundation for success in school

April 27, 2007
Lauren Monsen

Washington -- Effective literacy programs that target both adults and children can have profound effects on the health and well-being of families, according to a panel of educators and analysts.

During an April 26 webchat that highlighted regional literacy conferences sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), experts answered questions about initiatives that boost literacy rates around the world. Perri Klass, who participated in a recent UNESCO literacy conference in Qatar, told the webchat audience that such programs offer concrete benefits to parents and their youngsters. Klass, a pediatrician, is medical director of Reach Out and Read, a U.S. literacy program run by children’s health care providers.

The doctors, nurses and public health workers who administer Reach Out and Read “give parents advice about how important it is to read to their young children,” she said. “We give the child a book to take home at every visit. We start when the children are only 6 months old, and we continue until they are 5 years old and ready to start school.”

It is widely recognized that children develop literacy skills long before they learn to read, just as they develop language skills before they begin to speak. (See related article.)

Klass cited the concepts of mother/child literacy and also literacy and health as “very important in the work that we do with young children and their families and with health care workers.” Reach Out and Read encourages parents to read aloud to their children “so that children grow up with books and a love of reading,” she explained. “Health care providers … have a remarkable opportunity to reach parents when their children are very young.”

A mother’s reading skills often are fundamental to her family’s prospects in life, Klass observed. “Improved maternal literacy has a strong positive effect on child health, [because] as family literacy levels improve, parents become more effective users of the health care system,” she said.

Reach Out and Read is a rapidly growing program in the United States, operating in 3,289 sites and serving 2.8 million children. The program is being replicated in other countries as well. Although it was developed to fit into the U.S. system of health care delivery, the program has been adapted to work within the health care frameworks of countries ranging from the Philippines to Italy to Lesotho, said Klass.

Another of the webchat’s participants was Anita McBride, chief of staff to U.S. first lady Laura Bush. The UNESCO conferences, she said, will build on the September 2006 White House Conference on Global Literacy and will “help national governments and international partners use proven best practices to teach people of all ages how to read.” Six regional literacy conferences will take place over the next two years. “The first successful conference was just held in Doha, Qatar, in March 2007,” McBride said. Additional regional literacy conferences will take place in China (July 2007), Mali (September 2007), India (November 2007), Costa Rica (March 2008) and Azerbaijan (May-June 2008), she said.

Russ Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, said that overall, literacy rates have been improving over the past several years, but some countries still lag behind.

“Since 1990, the number of adult illiterates has fallen by 100 million, but when you break it down into region, the adult illiteracy rate actually increased in some places,” said Whitehurst.

However, “when we’re talking about children or youth ages 15-24, the picture is much brighter, with marked progress due to expanded access to formal schooling,” he said. “The global youth literacy rate increased from 75 percent to 88 percent between 1970 and 2000-2004.”

In response to a question, McBride spoke briefly about the U.N. Literacy Decade, which UNESCO has been organizing and coordinating. “The goal of the U.N. Literacy Decade, which runs from 2003 to 2012, is to help increase literacy worldwide and build commitment from the international community to focus on literacy and education,” she said. “Mrs. Bush is very committed to this cause and [to] her role as honorary ambassador for the U.N. Literacy Decade. As a former librarian, she knows how reading can empower people of all ages.”

UNESCO is helping countries implement a series of goals under its Education for All initiative, and the U.S. first lady joined UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura in hosting a January 2007 round table discussion on teacher training and literacy. “Mrs. Bush has also supported efforts to increase textbook distribution and educational access for millions of people around the world,” said McBride.

Klass emphasized the fact that widespread literacy is an essential cornerstone of all prosperous societies because countries must depend on an educated and informed citizenry to reach their full potential.

“I can think of nothing more important to world progress than literacy,” added Whitehurst.

A transcript of the webchat is available on USINFO's Webchat Station, which also has information on previous and upcoming webchats.

More information on Reach Out and Read is available on the program’s Web site.

More information on how the United States is working with UNESCO to promote literacy is available on the Web site of the U.S. Mission to UNESCO.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)