A BLUEPRINT FOR THE STATE OF INDIANA
Growing a reader is a task that involves a
whole community. This is so for all ages, but in the young adolescent years, as
young people begin to cross the bridges between family life and broader
community participation, diverse community contributions to their literacy
development become particularly critical.
Without the support of the entire community,
young adolescents will be less likely to have access to books, be encouraged to
read, or be given the time to do so. Without reading leaders in schools,
community agencies, and public libraries who are trained in the best ways to
support young adolescents' reading development, young people will be left to
struggle on their own to gain important reading skills. Many families will not
be aware of their children's need for added support in this arena if they do not
get information on this topic. Again, it takes the whole community to grow a
reader!
Concerned that Indiana was not making
adequate strides toward becoming a Community of Readers supportive of all young
adolescents' reading development, in 1987 Lilly Endowment Inc. began a
comprehensive multiyear grant program to support middle grades reading
initiatives. Out of that effort grew a number of stellar projects that have
aided young adolescent readers across the state. Believing that conditions of
poverty were a significant contributor to factors that could lead to poor
reading achievement, a major focus of Lilly Endowment Inc.'s Middle Grades
Reading Initiative was to assist those young people at risk for educational
failure because of inadequate reading skills. Because of this effort, many
Indiana middle grades schools received new book collections and staff
development support that have greatly increased their ability to support young
people's reading achievement.
It was never the intention of the Endowment
to carry out this task single-handedly. The goal has always been to lend a hand
to help Hoosiers build their dreams for young adolescent reading development in
their own way. For this reason, in 1992, with support from Lilly Endowment Inc.,
the Indiana Middle Grades Reading Network, an umbrella program for these
broad-based middle grades reading efforts, came into being. The Network, a
four-year project, has as its central goal to make the entire state of Indiana a
Community of Readers. The Network ties together diverse constituencies concerned
with these issues through its communications channels. It has developed six
model Community of Readers sites where the characteristics of such entities can
be studied and the results disseminated. Finally, in order to make support for
young adolescents' reading needs a matter of broad- based community interest,
the Stakeholders group was developed.
Indiana's Reading Stakeholders
In July 1993 over seventy youth advocates
from across the state of Indiana gathered at Brown County State Park to begin
the task of forging a blueprint for making Indiana a Community of Readers that
would support all young adolescents to develop their full potential as readers.
In February 1995 a second Indiana Reading Stakeholders' meeting was held in
Indianapolis. These reading advocates who are concerned about young adolescents
represent many areas of concern, including education, public and school
libraries, public school superintendents, community-based agencies, parents,
business, and the Indiana State Department of Education. They form the Indiana
Reading Stakeholders, so named because each member represents one or more of the
major Stakeholders in the work to support young adolescent readers in Indiana.
They are a group of dynamic, committed individuals who are determined to make a
difference for youth and for the state.
Out of the work of this and other groups
participating in the Middle Grades Reading Network came the following Reading
Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights guides the Stakeholders' work and is the
foundation upon which the Blueprint is based.
Reading
Bill of Rights
for Indiana's Young Adolescents
All young adolescents in Indiana need access
to the kinds of reading opportunities that will allow them to grow up to be
successful members of a literate community. It is the responsibility of the
entire community to offer support for providing these opportunities. Our
ultimate goal is the creation of Communities of Readers where each young
adolescent will be able to fulfill his or her potential as a reader.
To that end, we believe that Indiana's young
adolescents deserve:
2.
Encouragement to Value Reading Schools that feature
an environment where reading is valued, promoted, and encouraged.
3.
Time to Read Dedicated time during the school day to
read for a variety of purposes—for pleasure, information, and exploration.
4.
Skilled Reading Leaders Teachers and school
librarians who continually seek to renew their skills and excitement in sharing
reading with young people through participation in diverse professional
development activities.
5.
Public Library Support Public libraries that provide
services specifically designed to engage young people's interest in reading.
6.
Community Agency Support Community-based programs
that encourage them in all aspects of their reading development.
7.
Family Support Opportunities for reading at home and
support from schools, public libraries, and community agencies to families with
young adolescents to encourage family reading activities.
8.
Reading Role Models Communities of Readers in which
all adults—in school, at home, and across the community—serve as role models
and provide guidance to ensure that reading is a priority in young people's
lives.
By
strengthening and bringing together these eight components, we believe that we
can make Indiana a Community of Readers in which young adolescents will thrive.
Indeed, it is only in such an environment that young people will have the
opportunities to become prepared to meet the challenges of the future.
The Blueprint
The Blueprint corresponds to the Reading
Bill of Rights. For each adolescent reading right or goal, the Stakeholders have
described:
2.
The current state of awareness about this need.
3.
The barriers or challenges Hoosiers face in implementing this goal.
4.
The actions that we can take now to move toward this goal.
The
Reading Bill of Rights and the Blueprint for making it a reality represent many
hours of work by dedicated individuals who care deeply about the state of
Indiana and the welfare of its young people. The Stakeholders recognize that
these two concerns are inextricably linked to one another—what is good for
Indiana's young people will be good for the state of Indiana. Addressing the
reading needs of Indiana's young adolescents is essential, we believe, for the
health and well-being of our state. There are several clear steps described in
this Blueprint that we must take in order to achieve our goals.
I
Access to Books
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
access to current, appealing, high-interest, and useful books and other reading
materials in their classrooms, homes, public and school libraries, and other
locations within the community.
We will know we have met this goal when:
1. The Indiana Department of Education collects and disseminates
information about per-student school library book acquisition rates and
circulation rates to encourage schools to increase access to books.
2. In order to bring collections up to date and to provide the number of
books needed for appropriate school collections, schools purchase a minimum of
two library books per student per year.
3. Performance-Based Accreditation distinguishes between expenditures for
library staffing and expenditures for book acquisition rate, and circulation
rate.
4. The state provides categorical funds for books, and the state passes
legislation permitting the purchase of books to become another option under the
Capital Projects Fund.
5. The state develops collection standards for book collections for new
and redesigned schools.
6. The Common School Fund can be used for the purchase of books.
7. The purchase of books and reading materials for home use increases.
8. Community organizations, businesses, and families exhibit
resourcefulness in creating book-rich environments for all ages.
9. Public library books are available to students through their school
library and community organizations.
10. All libraries share resources.
What is the current state of awareness?
Many Hoosiers do not realize the extent of
the decline in school library book collections. Also, they have not taken any
action to counter the time young people devote to television, movies, and other
forms of nonprint entertainment with time devoted to books. The average
copyright date of books in Indiana school libraries is 1968. Schools purchased
approximately one-fourth of their library books during the past ten years.
Students rarely use the other three-fourths of the book collection.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
We foresee three major barriers to meeting
this basic reading right for young adolescents. The first barrier concerns
schools' ability and willingness to collect the data needed to monitor book
collections and their use. Schools are, for good reason, concerned about the
time staff must spend completing information requests from various state
agencies. Schools have limited funds and staff and currently get little credit
for building satisfactory book collections. The Performance-Based Accreditation
already takes much valuable time and resources from schools, and adding the
library to this process would create yet more work.
Another barrier relates to the inability to
use Capital Projects Funds to purchase books. The state has limited resources
and finds it difficult to provide categorical funds unless they are pass-through
funds from the federal government. If schools use the Capital Projects Fund to
purchase books, will other special-interest groups also try to use these funds
for needed equipment and supplies such as band uniforms? Also, if schools use
too much from the Capital Projects Fund, the legislature may take steps to
reduce the amount of funds available.
Thirdly, many parents do not realize the
importance of reading in the home and do not make it a priority. Consequently,
they themselves are not good reading role models. Furthermore, due to competing
and counterproductive outside influences such as television and video games,
many young adolescents are not voluntary readers.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Ask several Stakeholders representing key concerns in this area (a
university professor, a school librarian, and an Indiana Department of Education
librarian) to develop a reasonable form to collect statistics from school
libraries. Present the form to the Indiana State Board of Education. Meanwhile,
build awareness among school librarians concerning the importance of providing
school library circulation information to the state.
2. Obtain a copy of the Performance-Based Accreditation materials. Work
with school library Stakeholders to develop a section for the review of school
library media centers that can be completed with a reasonable amount of effort.
Present the new section to the Indiana State Board of Education.
3. Determine the amount of money needed annually to purchase at least two
library books per student per year, keeping in mind the variety in size of
schools across the state and that some books can be paperbacks. Work with the
Stakeholder Steering Committee to determine a reasonable amount that the state
should be willing to provide for school library collections above and beyond
funds currently sent to school corporations. Present the information to the
Indiana State Board of Education, and ask for categorical funds or permission
for schools to purchase books from the Capital Projects Fund. Work with
legislators to obtain funding.
II Encouragement to Value Reading
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
schools that feature an environment where reading is valued, promoted, and
encouraged.
We will know we have met this goal when:
1. Middle grades schools feature student work in reading.
2. Posters, display cases, and bulletin boards highlight reading in middle
grades schools.
3. School libraries are attractive with comprehensive, current
collections, and librarians, teachers, school administrators, and families
actively promote books and reading to students.
4. Classrooms have collections of useful and current books.
5. School personnel read, discuss, and share information about books with
each other, with students, and with families.
6. The oldest students in the school are avid readers and pass that
culture of reading interest on to younger students.
7. Parents of students are issued library cards for use in the school
library.
8. School librarians, teachers, and public librarians develop programs
that encourage parents to read to and read with their young adolescents.
What is the current state of awareness?
Most people feel that reading is important
in the primary grades. For that reason, in most elementary schools, books are
available in classrooms, and posters and other displays that promote reading are
exhibited in classrooms and halls. Teachers read aloud to their students, and
children spend many hours each week reading books. As young people move into the
middle grades, where most classes are not self-contained and where many teachers
do not feel such personal responsibility for promoting reading, it may appear
that schools no longer value reading. Students may not have a reading teacher
who promotes reading or a class in which reading is specifically encouraged.
Middle grades schools may not even have reading teachers, thus eliminating
persons who logically promote reading. School libraries may be perceived as
places of information only, rather than places where voluntary reading of young
adult books occurs.
In all curricular areas except reading,
schools show the importance of continuous support for young people's learning.
For example, basic arithmetic skills are a prelude to geometry and calculus.
Children learn how to turn on computers and how to use the keyboard in lower
grades and engage in elaborate computer activities in higher grades. Band
members learn to play their instruments in lower grades and then perform in
higher grades. Sports in lower grades prepare students for important competition
in higher grades.
In reading, however, we often act as if
students are competent by the sixth grade and place the burden on their
shoulders to continue to improve their skills and voluntarily choose to read
without encouragement. As a result, almost every measure of voluntary reading
shows a decline from elementary to middle grades.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
It is not that teachers, librarians, and
administrators at the middle grades level are anti-reading, but they may not be
aware of the negative effects of their current practice or have information
about better ways to proceed. The seeming apathy toward encouraging reading in
the middle grades can best be overcome by disseminating information at the
school level that addresses this problem and providing diverse positive support
to assist teachers to begin to move toward the goal of creating a school
environment where reading is valued, promoted, and encouraged.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Feature the importance of the school reading environment in the Middle
Grades Reading Network newsletter, NetWords.
2. Promote the importance of the school reading environment in the six
Community of Readers sites.
3. Provide lists of books that promote voluntary reading for young
adolescents. Use NetWords for this purpose.
4. Feature an article in NetWords on how school libraries can promote
reading.
5. Provide information to schools on how to feature reading activities for
the oldest students in middle grades schools.
6. Encourage the Indiana Department of Education to use its publications
to highlight programs, schools, libraries, and communities in which reading has
been featured.
III
Time to Read
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
dedicated time during the school day to read for a variety of purposes—for
pleasure, information, and exploration.
We will know we have met this goal when:
1. Students have access to professionally staffed school libraries
throughout the day.
2. All students in a departmental program have a period for reading and a
period for English or the equivalent time in a block schedule.
3. Reading faculty are included with faculty from other core disciplines
as members of multidisciplinary teams.
4. Schools provide special help for students whose reading proficiency is
lower than needed for academic success.
5. Time to read is set aside during the school day.
What is the current state of awareness?
Fifty years ago Indiana's sixth, seventh,
and eighth graders had one period a day for reading activities. Today's young
Hoosiers may have considerably less time for reading. This is due in part to
movement in middle grades schools toward a block of time called English or
Language Arts. In middle grades schools patterned on an elementary model,
English or language arts, as typically conceived in Indiana middle grades,
focuses on the teaching of grammar and spelling skills with some attention to
traditional composition instruction. In schools patterned more closely after the
high school model, it may mean classical literature instruction.
Missing from either of these plans is
attention to the development of the complex range of skills necessary for
becoming an adept reader of many kinds of materials, as well as the practice
time necessary to perfect these skills. Appropriate reading classes for young
adolescents provide ample time to read and the encouragement to do so. There are
opportunities to discuss the books read and to develop understanding of books
through interactions with peers and teachers. These are opportunities that are
now missing from the school lives of many young adolescents in Indiana.
The decline of reading time in the school
day can also be attributed to the perception many have that young adolescents
are already adequately proficient in reading, and thus studying areas such as
foreign language or computers is a better use of their time. The result is that
one-fifth of all sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students have no reading or
literature course during the entire school year.
The lack of time devoted to reading in
Indiana's middle grades schools is often accompanied by the lack of access
students have to the school library. The school library may not be open at
convenient times for students, and they may not be encouraged to use the library
for voluntary reading as well as class assignments.
A critical aspect of meeting this goal is
the need to provide services to support those young people who are in danger of
academic failure because they lack the reading skills needed for assignments at
the middle grades level. As we found in A Study of Reading in Indiana Middle,
Junior, and Senior High Schools, published by the Indiana Youth Institute in
1992, many of Indiana's young adolescents who are in this at-risk category are
not receiving the help they need. This is a serious omission if Indiana is to
become a true Community of Readers.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
To meet our goal, we must find time that can
be devoted to reading in the hotly contested school schedule, and this will not
be an easy task. When Indiana schools eliminated the reading period from the
middle grades, teachers of other disciplines gained more time for their
subject-area interests, which they will be loath to part with. In many ways,
eliminating the reading period simplified life for all teachers because with one
less period there was one less class to prepare for and each teacher's
preparation period was just a little bit longer. Many teachers will be reluctant
to lose this benefit.
If we are to reinstate a reading period, we
must also consider the competition reading would face from a number of new
subjects of study that have been added to middle grades schools' curricula over
the last several years. These include such subjects as band, chorus, computers,
and foreign languages. If a reading period is added, will it replace one of
these subjects or will it be in addition to them? Where will we find the extra
time in the school schedule?
For those young adolescents who are at risk
for academic failure because they are at risk for reading failure, help could be
made available by providing more Chapter 1 funds for remedial reading assistance
in the middle grades. This would mean reducing the funding available for
assistance at the elementary level, where traditionally the bulk of this money
has been spent.
Simply providing the funding, however, may
not be enough. We may also need to alter the pull-out format by which Chapter 1
assistance has heretofore been made available to students. Middle grades
students are extremely sensitive to being singled out from the crowd,
particularly for problems that make them appear less competent than their peers.
In addition, there is good research evidence to prove that segregated
instruction programs simply cannot match the effects of high-quality whole-class
instruction. Therefore, it would make sense to use Chapter 1 funds at the middle
grades level to provide "more and better" reading instruction in
specially dedicated reading/language arts periods that include all middle grades
students.
In addition, if classroom reading teachers
are to provide high-quality instruction for all adolescent learners, they will
need support for their own professional growth, an area that Indiana has sadly
ignored over the last several years.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Provide information in NetWords on the importance of making
school libraries open and available to students. Make this information available
to others statewide.
2. Feature the importance of time for reading in NetWords, and make
articles and good examples available to others in the state.
3. Work with the Professional Standards Board to provide a clear path for
certification of middle grades reading teachers.
4. Call a meeting of selected exemplary reading teachers from around the
state and develop guidelines for middle grades reading classes. Distribute the
results to all Network schools and others statewide.
5. Find ways to incorporate more reading into other content areas.
6. Publicize professional development programs that are known to improve
teachers' knowledge and effectiveness as middle grades reading instructors.
IV
Skilled Reading Leaders
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
teachers and school librarians who continually seek to renew their skills and
excitement in sharing reading with young people through participation in diverse
professional development activities.
We will know we have reached this goal when:
1. The Indiana Department of Education provides incentives to school
corporations to support professional development in reading.
2. Education Service Centers receive funds from the state to create a
statewide program providing continuous in-service to focus on reading education.
3. Certification of middle grades reading teachers requires a level of
training equal to that required for other disciplines, such as social studies.
4. All middle grades teachers and administrators have completed training
in young adult literature and how to teach reading in the content areas.
5. Indiana reading professors take on a leadership role in promoting
certification of middle grades reading teachers and collaborative models of
staff development that promote young adult literature across content areas.
6. Universities align themselves with schools to promote reading.
What is the current state of awareness?
Literature-based reading programs, where
teachers use fiction and nonfiction trade books in addition to textbooks,
require that teachers be familiar with young adult literature and effective
reading instruction strategies. In contrast with elementary school teachers,
many middle grades teachers are not familiar with the hundreds of new fiction
and nonfiction books written for the age level of the students they teach.
Teachers need access to the new books and encouragement and support to read and
discuss them.
Unfortunately, most school districts provide
few opportunities for middle grades reading teachers to upgrade their skills and
knowledge about current reading instructional techniques and appropriate
materials for instituting those techniques, such as literature-based
instruction. According to a study conducted by the Indiana Youth Institute in
1992, the average middle grades reading teacher has few hours of professional
development in reading during an entire year. The majority of teachers surveyed
in that study (983 teachers working in schools with a grades 6-8 configuration)
received no more than an average of 4.9 hours of professional staff development
in reading per year. Those teachers working in schools with a grades 7-9
configuration (358 teachers) received only 3.0 hours in this area per year.
Finally, the 407 teachers who worked in schools with a grades 7-12 configuration
received an average of 2.7 hours. Professional development should include a
range of opportunities for learning, such as workshops, seminars, college
classes, conferences, and visitations to other teachers' classrooms.
Indiana has nine Education Service Centers
spread throughout the state. They are the ideal locations to help local
districts provide professional development in reading. Keeping in mind that the
typical middle grades school has few reading teachers compared to elementary
schools, it is cost-inefficient for individual schools to offer professional
development in this area. But Education Service Centers can offer excellent
programs involving teachers from many different schools if funding is available.
Because state funding is lacking, little professional development in reading is
occurring at the nine centers.
Reading certification is another critical
area that touches on teachers' professional development. Unlike art,
mathematics, science, social studies, and all the other middle grades subjects,
there is no clear path for state middle grades reading certification at the
present time. Elementary teachers may choose to take additional courses to be
certified to teach reading in the middle grades, and secondary teachers may
major in English and teach reading in the middle grades, but there is not a
specific path for a college student who wishes to be a middle grades reading
teacher.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
Many Indiana school districts do not
encourage professional development activities in reading or other disciplines.
Yet, when the state highlights an area such as gifted and talented or drug
prevention and provides funds for professional development, teachers do attend
and become better prepared in those areas. The federal government provides much
of this special funding, so it sets the agenda for some special professional
development offerings.
Education Service Centers do not have
special funding for professional development in reading. They are very good at
delivering services when funding is available: for example, gifted-and-talented
professional development. Without funding, however, they are not able to
undertake a major program to upgrade reading in the geographic area under their
jurisdiction.
For those schools that have dropped reading
as a class in the seventh and eighth grades, secondary-trained English teachers
must meet students' reading needs. Those schools that believe time for reading
is important need well-trained teachers, but reading teachers are hard to find
because there is no distinct path for certification. Middle schools need
teachers who have multiple certification because this helps in scheduling
classes. Therefore, those who hire middle grades teachers applaud certification
that allows a teacher to be used in both English and reading classes. There is
reluctance to add certification areas.
In classrooms, as in school libraries, the
lack of appropriate materials is a problem that plagues teachers, impeding their
ability to deepen their knowledge of their craft. On the average, Indiana
schools are purchasing only one-half book per student per year. By the time a
school purchases the books that support school curricular needs, little money
remains to purchase nonfiction books for voluntary reading. Therefore, teachers
do not have access to new young adolescent books.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Determine the state's budget for various professional development
activities, including reading. Compare the amount spent for reading with other
areas. Work with the Indiana Department of Education to increase professional
development in reading by encouraging local districts to provide training and to
facilitate attendance by teachers to various state reading meetings.
2. Work with the Indiana State Board of Education and the state
legislature to fund professional development in reading through the nine
Education Service Centers.
3. Work with the Professional Standards Board to make licensing for middle
grades reading teachers equivalent to that required of middle grades social
studies teachers. The requirements would be similar to the following:
Reading. 6-12. Twenty semester credit hours
to include a minimum of fifteen semester credit hours of reading course work in
the following areas: foundations of/or developmental reading, content area
reading, corrective/diagnostic/remedial reading, psycholinguistics/language
development and reading, and literature for adolescents. The remainder may be
taken from related areas.
4. Work with the Professional Standards Board to require a minimum of nine
semester credit hours in reading instruction for all middle grades teachers.
Course requirements would encompass foundations of reading, content area
reading, and young adolescent literature.
5. Encourage professional associations to provide sessions at meetings on
issues related to young adolescent reading needs, including young adult
literature.
V
Public Library Support
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
public libraries that provide services specifically designed to engage young
people's interest in reading.
We will know we have reached this goal when:
1. All young adolescents in Indiana have access to public library
services.
2. All students have library cards.
3. Libraries provide special opportunities and programming for young
adolescents, and young adolescents participate.
4. The Indiana State Library collects and disseminates information about
each public library concerning the number of certified young adult librarians,
the book acquisition rate for young adults, and the circulation rate for this
age group.
5. The Indiana State Library and the Indiana Library Federation furnish
incentives to public libraries to provide professional development in the area
of young adult materials and programming.
6. Continuing support is provided for inter-library loan mechanisms.
What is the current state of awareness?
Most Indiana public libraries do not have a
professional young adult librarian, even though 25 percent of those who use
public libraries are young adults. Young adolescents represent about half the
young adult population, and they need special attention. Services designed for
young children will not attract them, and at the same time, most do not have the
experience to use a library's resources without adult support.
In about a fourth of the state—a total of
23.5 percent of Indiana townships—there are no public libraries. The unserved
population in these townships is 409,840. Thus many of Indiana's young
adolescents do not have access to a public library. In the rest of the state,
238 public libraries serve 5,147,144 persons. However, the number of persons who
have a library card is 2,995,829, or 58.2 percent of the served population.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
Public libraries have many demands for their
resources, and it is difficult to add responsibilities to staff who are already
heavily engaged in the normal operation of the library.
Public libraries may not feel a
responsibility to connect with schools, especially when schools may not be
seeking to connect with public libraries.
Disruptive behavior is often associated with
young adults. (In some instances, it is simply non-adult behavior typical of
middle grades students who need adults who can recognize and work with their
needs.)
As mentioned before, almost a quarter of
Indiana townships have no public library. Whether a public library is available
to young people is presently the responsibility of each Indiana township. To
have a public library, local taxes must be raised in those townships where there
is no library.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Work with public librarians, public library boards, and library
supporters to make public libraries available to all Indiana students.
2. Work with the Indiana State Library to collect statistics on public
library services for young adolescents.
3. Encourage schools to plan cooperative programs with public libraries,
including promotion of public library summer reading programs, signing up
students for public library cards, visitation to public libraries, and
instruction in public library use.
4. Develop partnership programs between public libraries and community
youth-serving organizations for reading opportunities.
5. Encourage partnerships between youth librarians and youth agencies for
sharing information on how to use a library or how to enjoy reading.
6. Disseminate information on reading programs especially for young
adolescents.
VI
Community Agency Support
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
community-based programs that encourage young people in all aspects of their
reading development.
We will know we have reached this goal when:
1. Community organizations such as Kiwanis, Optimist, Rotary, and Junior
League provide books for youth-
serving organizations and public and school libraries.
2. Nonformal educators receive encouragement and assistance to provide
reading opportunities for the youth they serve.
3. Foundations and businesses provide assistance to encourage young
adolescents to read.
4. Partnership programs are established with local donors—including
civic groups, foundations, and businesses—so that each community program site
has a relevant, appealing book collection.
5. Civic groups, businesses, and donors recognize the need for local
reading role models.
6. Nonformal educators demonstrate increased awareness about the reading
needs of young adolescents.
7. Youth-serving agencies build reading materials and staff development
opportunities into proposals for funding of new programs.
8. Universities contribute in multiple ways to promote reading across the
community.
What is the current state of awareness?
Youth-serving agencies and donors may not
understand that books and reading can be an appropriate and vital component of
all youth programming, not the exclusive domain of the school. Many nonformal
educators, even with heightened awareness, need help with program tools and
ideas.
Donors may be interested in initiatives that
address high profile needs. They may not understand the more subtle but
important role that nonformal educational programs can play in extending
learning beyond the classroom.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
Reading is not as compelling an issue for
youth agencies and funders as violence, AIDS, or other current social concerns.
Funding agencies concerned with youth programming are very sensitive to the
external environment in which these needs exist.
There is no formal preservice training for
youth workers. They come to the field from many disciplines and preparation
programs, so they lack a common understanding of the importance of encouraging
reading and other academic skills.
Youth workers need to see reading as
pleasurable, just as teachers have had to be reconnected with this aspect of
reading.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Meet with state officials of the Chamber of Commerce, United Way,
Indiana Donors Alliance, Workforce Development, and other civic groups. Provide
information on young adolescent reading needs and resources to meet these needs
that they can use with their affiliates or constituencies.
2. Develop a speakers bureau that will provide speakers on issues related
to young-adolescent reading, and advertise this opportunity to service clubs.
3. Encourage community foundations to leverage local dollars for books via
matching funds or other creative grant-making programs.
4. Encourage Education Service Centers to provide technical assistance or
training opportunities regarding young adolescent reading to nonformal educators
in their regions.
5. Display young adolescent paperback book collections at regional and
national conferences of youth-serving professionals held in Indiana. Include
opportunities for participants to purchase books.
6. Display book collections at county fairs and the state fair, with
opportunities for purchase.
7. Promote innovative book acquisition efforts. (For example, in 1993 the
national conference of LINKS was held in Indianapolis. Each participant was
asked to bring a favorite book on African-American history, heritage, or
culture. Bookplates were inserted and the books donated to an Indianapolis
community center.)
8. Distribute reading programming ideas for young adolescents.
9. Activate Building Youth Literacy trainers to offer subsidized regional
training workshops in partnership with the Education Service Centers.
10. Encourage reading teachers to offer in-service to the staff of youth
organizations.
11. Create and distribute model speeches, newsletters, articles, and
public service announcements to youth-serving organizations for use in staff
meetings, staff training, or agency newsletters.
12. Periodically send mailings to the donor community about the ways they
can address adolescent reading needs, because it often takes many suggestions
and continued contact to generate action.
13. Encourage bookstores to support youth organizations through
advertising, corporate discount programs, and book selection assistance.
14. Provide college students to tutor in public libraries, offering book
selection information for parents, and providing storytelling.
VII
Family Support
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
opportunities for reading at home and support from schools, public libraries,
and community agencies to families with young adolescents to encourage family
reading activities.
We will know we have met this goal when:
1. A statewide, community-driven family learning network is established
and sustained.
2. Families receive and generate information that helps them understand
what a school needs to do to promote reading and to ensure access to books.
3. Families, schools, and youth-serving agencies assist each other in
encouraging their young people to read.
What is the current state of awareness?
Many people believe that children learn and
practice reading mainly in their elementary schools, rather than in their
elementary and middle grades schools. They may believe that young adolescents do
not need reading guidance and support in the middle grades. Families may not
discuss books, use the public library, or purchase books from community
bookstores.
While families of students enrolled in
extracurricular activities, such as athletics or band, work closely with school
personnel to ensure that their children have financial and volunteer support,
they may assume that schools are promoting books and making them accessible.
Schools may not recognize the role that they can play in promoting family
reading; families may not recognize the role they can play as advocates for
reading for their children and schools.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
Family life often mitigates against reading
due to a host of factors: for example, demands on family time; competing demands
for sports, art, or faith activities; rising rates of births to unwed teens
(approximately 30 percent of United States births); increasing poverty among
single-parent households; and major use of television as a baby-sitter. There is
also a growing sense among youth in poverty that school and formal education do
not speak to their needs, thus negating efforts of schools to promote reading
activities.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Promote a "turn off the TV" night on a periodic basis via
parent organizations.
2. Develop a relationship with promotional distributors to design products
that support reading.
3. Talk with Jaws, Peanut Butter Press, Teen Talk, Children's Express,
and other youth publications about possible newspaper stories to heighten public
awareness.
4. Put "Only Reading Makes It Real" ads in movie theater
promotional films and recycle the ads into video announcements.
5. Network with PTA, Family-School Partnership, the Indiana State Reading
Association, and similar organizations to make home reading a highlighted
activity.
6. Hold regional meetings of the Family Reading Association to assist
families in forming mutual support groups.
7. Send the Family Reading Association newsletter to family agencies,
schools, and public support groups to raise awareness and to build the Family
Reading Association concept.
8. Encourage local public broadcast stations to tape young adolescents
doing booktalks.
9. Encourage booksellers and libraries to place relevant displays in movie
theater lobbies to tie to current movie releases.
VIII
Reading Role Models
Indiana's young adolescents deserve
Communities of Readers in which all adults—in school, at home, and across the
community—serve as role models and provide guidance to ensure that reading is
a priority in young people's lives.
We will know we have met this goal when:
1. The media feature good adult reading role models and encourage
community members to serve as good reading role models.
2. Public library family participation, book circulation, and membership
increase.
3. Librarians, nonformal educators, and teachers read and discuss books.
4. Young adults, families, nonformal educators, and members of the school
staff use the public library nearest to the school.
5. Business involvement in reading includes mentoring, reading at the
workplace, and support via newsletters.
What is the current state of awareness?
Adults within schools, homes, and
communities should serve as role models and provide guidance to ensure that
reading becomes a priority in the lives of Indiana's middle grades students.
Many schools provide neither programs that encourage teachers to share and
discuss books nor programs that allow them to stress the value of reading books.
Similarly, few schools help parents encourage their children to read, despite
the existence of several national models that encourage parental involvement.
When students enter a middle grades school,
they look to older students to serve as their role models in various areas,
including reading. Unfortunately, the example that many younger adolescents
receive from older students in their schools often is not a positive model for
reading.
What are the barriers to implementing this goal?
The news media need to have interesting
stories for their readers, listeners, and viewers. In a world filled with action
and excitement, reading appears to be passive and not as interesting as what the
television media can produce. Family members struggle to keep up with everyday
demands and find it difficult to visit the public library, while television
programs are available at home and easy to access. Many adults know the
importance of reading, so they encourage young children to read. However, many
do not use the public library, purchase and read books from bookstores, or take
the time to meet with others to discuss books. Business involvement in reading
is already significant in that the taxes businesses pay help maintain schools
and public libraries. Business leaders, however, may be more concerned with
proficient reading as it relates to the workplace than with voluntary reading,
which is actually an important underpinning for proficient reading skills.
What can be done now to help Indiana move toward this goal?
1. Encourage booksellers to link with the Chambers of Commerce or
Convention and Visitors Bureaus in communities to display books at convention
center meetings or in Chamber of Commerce lobbies. Include tips on young
adolescent reading and purchase opportunities. Bank lobbies would be
high-traffic display areas as well.
2. Establish "Literacy Month" in Indiana.
3. Ask each Indiana legislator to bring a book for a young adolescent to
the state house. Donate the collection to an organization via a drawing.
4. Partner with the Indiana sports teams to have "book games"
where fans bring a book, as there are games where fans bring a can of food.
5. Work through trade associations or professional groups to place books
for young adolescents in reception areas, waiting rooms, etc.
6. Work toward establishing partnership opportunities with the Indiana
Council on Aging or local councils for developing inter-generational reading
programs. Consider partnerships with retirement villages or homes.
7. Submit a story to Youth Today with Indiana's reading efforts as a model
for replication in other states.
It takes a whole community to grow a
reader! The Blueprint devised by the Indiana Reading Stakeholders describes
the actions we need to take if we are to nourish Indiana's young adolescents so
that they will be able to develop their reading skills to their full potential.
This document spells out the ways that we can make books available, provide
young people with the time for reading, offer them role models, and develop
reading programs that are based on the best research knowledge available. It
discusses the ways that school, community, and family can become partners in
meeting these goals.
Because we live in a literate society in
which literacy demands are constantly escalating, it is critical that we give
careful consideration to the recommendations of the Blueprint. Without our
attention to the calls for action in this document, the future of Indiana's
youth, and thus Indiana's future, is in question.