KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The main way to ensure or improve your child's literacy and academic success is summed up in a single word, said
Kimberly Parker-DeVauld, principal of a 600-student elementary school in the city:
Read.
In fact, Parker-DeVauld led an audience in citing the top ten things parents and guardians could do to ensure literacy and academic success:
1). Read. 2). Read. 3). Read. 4). Read. 5). Read. 6). Read. 7). Read. 8). Read. 9). Read. 10). Read!
Parker-DeVauld's comments came during the
"Literacy Is The Key" forum hosted by
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which is leading its congregation and others in taking biblical, pro-active measures to raise the academic success of its children and those throughout the community. The church serves a primarily African American population in a city where anonymous benefactors created
The Kalamazoo Promise, which pays tuition for eligible
Kalamazoo Public High School graduates to attend any of the state's public colleges and universities. All the presenters are members of the church.
Parker-DeVauld's colleague,
Leadriene Roby, principal of
Covert Elementary School in Covert, Mich., agreed with her assessment.
"Children who read the most, read the best," Roby said. "If you read a lot, it raises your scores in a lot of areas."
Roby also asked the audience about its home library, inquiring whether they had more televisions in the home (especially in children's bedrooms) than bookshelves.
"Simply put, those who watch the most (TV) know the least," Roby said.
Material presented at the forum indicated that fifth-graders who spent 1.8 minutes a day reading outside of school scored in the 30th percentile on a standardized reading test, while those who spent 21.1 minutes a day scored in the 90th percentile and those who read 65 minutes a day outside of school scored in the 98th percentile.
(Source: "Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School," 1988 Reading Research Quarterly)
Presenter
Nkenge Bergan, principal of the 1,179-student
Lakeview Middle School in nearby Battle Creek, Mich., challenged parents to stay involved in the lives of their middle-school students. That, she said, included attending parent-teacher conferences, visiting your child's school and classroom and keeping abreast of the homework and other work assigned. For instance, if a child told a parent he or she didn't have homework for the evening, Bergan offered a solution:
"Say 'guess what? I have one for you'," and present that child with a book to read, Bergan suggested.
Bergan shared how she also refused to give her own middle-school daughter a cell phone — not because she couldn't afford to — but because cell phones and other technology such as social-networking sites (MySpace and Facebook, for instance) encouraged bullying and negative behavior and interferred with young people's academic development.
"Monitor social activity, be nosy and say 'no'," Bergan said. "I'm so tired of middle school parents thinking that they can be friends with their kids."
She also encouraged parents to have expectations of their children and to lead the youth in creating a life plan.
The audience — comprised almost equally of adults and youth — also heard from
Craig LeSuer, an assistant principal at
Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts in Kalamazoo, Mich. LeSuer, who has also coached student sports, specifically discussed how student-athletes aspiring for the professional arena needed to prepare academically.
LeSuer presented data showing that of the nearly 550,000 high school male athletes, only about 1.3 percent of them would wind up playing sports professionally.
He borrowed from a phrase he attributed to one-time heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson: "Everybody has a plan until they get hit."
"What is your Plan B?" LeSuer said. "Have a Plan B to fall back on."
Organizers are now launching a Reading and Writing Clinic, to meet 6 to 7:30 p.m. Mondays, at the church; the clinic will be for children from kindergarten to age 8.
To solidify the evening's messages, forum organizers gave away new and gently used books to the children and their parents.
For an audio or videotape recording of the "Literacy Is The Key" forum, contact Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 269.388.3111 or http://www.mtzionkalamazoo.org/.
