Recently, the San Diego Council on Literacy interviewed and filmed 14 adult literacy students for a short video to be released this fall. In the video were nine women, five men and two teachers. Seven were white. Four were black. Three were Latino. Two had learned English as a second language. One was a nurse. Four earned college degrees. Two earned degrees before they became literate.
What many of these learners had in common was that, somehow, they slipped by all of us, either by being made invisible by others, or by successfully, of their own will, making themselves invisible over a period of 12 school years.
Some parents, teachers and administrators knew that something was wrong with the reading progress of these students but did not, for many reasons, intervene. Many years later, these students found the courage to ask for help from the affiliated programs of the San Diego Council on Literacy.
Today, we know that we can, statistically and with unfortunately good accuracy, determine who will succeed and fail in school simply by knowing that person’s income level, ethnicity and ZIP code. It would seem that, by now, we would have overcome the glaring obstacles that interfere with the proper education of our children. We have not.
In the Diamond Community, an area in southeast San Diego that includes 10 neighborhoods surrounding the intersection of Euclid and Market Street, community members are meeting regularly to address old issues in the education of inner city youth. For six months, community leaders have gathered twice monthly to understand more deeply the education challenges facing the area. With the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation offering a place to convene, the Diamond Community Education Working Group is building a common understanding of the problem and a shared vision for the future.
The group is presently in the early stages of articulating a plan of action that focuses on enhancing the capacity of principals, teachers, parents, and community organizations to support early literacy development. This strategy is a direct response to what the group has learned about the importance of early literacy for future academic success. It is also a response to the poor performance of area schools, where 70 percent of third graders were reading below grade level in 2010.
Chula Vista, with leadership from Mayor Cheryl Cox, has taken several steps to address a communitywide approach to increase literacy. As a charter member of the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Chula Vista has cross-sector teams of individuals working together to support school readiness, student attendance, and summer learning. Chula Vista schools, nonprofits, hospitals, businesses, government, and churches are collaborating to support young people and the adults who care for them.
From our work in recent months, we have relearned a few important messages. One is that expectations and attitude are powerful enough to change … everything. If we expect good, we get good, and if we expect mediocrity, or failure, we get that, too.
Another lesson is that a good home environment is more powerful than the bleakest of neighborhoods. Parents who read, read to their children, have books in the home for their children, talk and listen to their children, control television time, advocate for their children when they are in school, and who are determined that their children will read and succeed, are a good thing for all of us.