Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
Literacy
groups help students turn page toward better life
Navigating through everyday life involves innumerable small tasks that many take for granted.
Signing
forms, filling out bank deposit slips, reading information about one’s health
care or sharing a bedtime story with a child are just a few examples of the
kinds of activities to which most people don’t give a second thought.
For 30
million adults throughout the country, however, those tasks are insurmountable.
According to the nonprofit Literacy New Jersey, that’s how many individuals
lack basic prose literacy skills. In New Jersey alone, 17 percent of the adult
population lacks such skills, the organization states.
“There
are 13,000 people in Monmouth County alone who do not read and write above an
eighth-grade level,” said Rebecca Lucas, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County (LVMC),
another nonprofit organization.
And
it’s not a matter of a lack of schooling, according to experts.
“There
are adults who may have graduated high school but still read at a very low
level,” said Melissa Bernstein, program director for Literacy New Jersey in
Middlesex County.
According
to Lucas, some students slip through the cracks of a school system, somehow
skating by until graduation.
“It
happens a lot — especially in the lower economic regions of our county,” she
said.
For
some, survival — whether working to help with household expenses or the need to
care for a child or other family member — forces them to drop out.
“It’s
so sad,” Lucas said. “In today’s economy, you actually can’t make a living for
a family unless you have a two-year college degree or a trade certificate.”
Fortunately,
organizations like Literacy New Jersey and LVMC are there to help. READ MORE !
Adult
Literacy Council of Concho Valley Advocates for Education
One in
three residents of Tom Green County cannot write a simple sentence, said
Marilynn Golightly, an employee of the Adult Literacy
Council of the Concho Valley. Texas, she said, has the lowest
literacy rate in the United States and Tom Green County also has an alarmingly
high dropout rate. Golightly, and her team of volunteers, are working to change
these statistics.
“There’s
lots to be done and we have wonderful volunteers that come from all walks of
life that have talents and abilities to help teach others,” Golightly said.
Although
literacy is the council’s main focus, volunteers teach those in need of
assistance many skills that can help in professional or daily life. According
to Golightly, the council’s volunteers can teach students many useful skills,
from how do dress for an interview to how to make cookies.
“If
someone has an educational need and I can find a volunteer to meet that need,
we can do it,” Golightly said.
Golightly
estimates that about the council serves about 300 members of the community a
year. READ MORE !
State funds available
for adult literacy program
Earlier this week, the California State Library announced there
is $2 million available for local libraries with adult literacy programs. The
funds, made available by Gov. Jerry Brown and the California legislature, will
target libraries that lost literacy programs when state funding tightened up in
recent years.
But with the additional
funding available, other libraries will also benefit, said Susan Gillison,
Tulare County Library programs and literacy specialist.
“Each program will get
a boost,” she said.
The county’s program is
on-going, having served 280 learners last year, Gillison said. The program also
has about 300 volunteers who provide one-on-one instruction, in an attempt to
bring up the literacy rate.
Most volunteers are
retirees willing to teach to those seeking to improve their reading
comprehension. Those who seek help include basic learners, those who are
learning English as a second language or are preparing to take the GED test.
The county’s adult
literacy program is based in Visalia, but there’s also a Tulare location. Kim
Torrez leads the Read to Succeed program.
READ MORE !
Lessons in Literacy:
85-year-old Birmingham man proves it's never too late to learn to read
WSFA: 8.01.2015 by Beth Shelburne
Fred Oliver wants to
write a book about his life and he has a lot of good material.
The 85-year-old
Birmingham man served in the Korean War, raised children and grandchildren, and
has been working his entire life. His first paying job after growing up in
Birmingham's Evergreen Bottom neighborhood was driving a city ice truck.
Oliver is the oldest
person learning to read with the organization.
In his life story, this
latest chapter is a remarkable case study in the lifelong desire to read and
how it's never too late to learn.
"My life has just
completely changed," said Oliver. "I can read a whole book now
without asking questions."
Oliver comes to the
Literacy Council twice a week for tutoring sessions, but he first started when
he was 81. He had some basic reading skills but wasn't satisfied with where he
was and grew tired of asking his family for help when reading.
"They're reading
things to me," said Oliver, "and I just got tired of that. And then
my wife was helping me. I wanted to do things on my own."
Adrienne Marshall,
Director of Programs at the Literacy Council, was Oliver's first tutor. She was
shocked to learn Oliver's age when she first met him but was drawn to his motivation
and perseverance.
"I love the
example he sets for folks," said Marshall.
Marshall said when
Oliver began, his existing skills had him reading around a second-grade level.
She began working with him on basic phonics, helping him to recognize words
that he had a hard time pronouncing. READ MORE !
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