Literacy: Spanning the U.S.
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‘I
couldn’t even read the diploma.’ Now he struggles to learn what schools didn’t
teach him.
Washington Post: 1.18.2018 by Petula Dvorak
Willie
Nolan has a car, but he can’t drive it.
He
has the hands of a craftsman, but he can’t follow blueprints.
He
has a high school diploma, but he can’t read.
This
is what happens when schools put statistics over students, when they value
smoke and mirrors over real academic achievement.
“I
sat in a classroom doing nothing,” Nolan said. “And then, all of sudden, they
told me I was graduating. And I couldn’t even read the diploma.”
Nolan,
who is 57, graduated from the D.C. public school system in 1982. But a newly released
investigation by the Office of the State Superintendent
of Education showed that at least 1 of every 10 students graduating from a D.C.
public high school last year missed most of the academic year. How well do you
think some of those students can read?
D.C.
Public Schools have been churning out Willie Nolans for decades. And in the
latest gambit to manufacture a success story, it has created a world of hurt
for scores of students who barely made it to school by sending them out in the world
with diplomas.
“I’d
say the majority of them — 90 percent — are DCPS graduates,” said Jimmie
Williams, who runs the Washington
Literacy Center, which has taught hundreds of adults to read
since 1963 and estimates that 90,000 adults in the nation’s capital are
illiterate.
Want
to hear the worst part of all this? (Yes, it gets worse.)
His
center and two other groups — Literacy Volunteers and Advocates and Southeast
Ministry — which have served as the school district’s safety net for decades,
all lost grant funding from the city this year.
READ MORE >>
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Read
Muskegon opens literacy center in Muskegon County
MizBiz:
1.21.2018 by Marla R. Miller
Read
Muskegon
grew out of an informal group of volunteers providing one-on-one literacy
tutoring, but the organization in recent years has shifted gears to boost its
visibility and impact in the community.
When
Melissa Moore joined Read Muskegon as its first executive director, she and two
other part-timers shared cubicle space at Muskegon Area District Library’s
administrative offices.
Today,
less than four years later, a once-vacant storefront in Muskegon Heights has
become a hub of literacy efforts in Muskegon County. Read Muskegon, the
county’s only nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life through
improved literacy, was selected as a finalist in the MiBiz Best-Managed
Nonprofits Awards in the small organization category.
Since
Moore started in 2014, Read Muskegon has gone from serving 50 individuals
through one-on-one tutoring, which is still core to its mission, to a variety
of outreach programs offered through Michigan Works!, Great Start
Collaborative, Muskegon County Jail and its new Family Literacy Center at 26
East Broadway.
The
organization, founded in 2005, has evolved from struggling to put on a
fundraising event to a budget of more than $200,000, said Peter Violino, past
board chair during the transition years of 2014-16 and a former tutor. READ MORE >>
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Profile
of the Butte Literacy Program
Montana Standard: 1.23.2018
The
Butte Literacy Program is a
community-based, non-profit organization that provides free and confidential
tutoring to adults in the Butte-Silver Bow County area. Our mission is to
provide instructional assistance to adults who desire to increase their
literacy skills. Our definition of literacy is the ability to read, write,
compute and use technology at a level that enables an individual to reach his or
her full potential.
Students
are representative of those who need assistance with basic reading, writing and
math; English as a second language; achieving skills enabling them to qualify
to pass their high school equivalency exam; and those who need refresher
coursework for re-entry into academic programs or higher education. Some
students want to learn to work on personal learning disabilities and seek to
improve personal skill and confidence.
The
Butte Literacy Program, a one-to-one tutoring program, began in 1987, and was
incorporated in 1988. Initially utilizing VISTA volunteers, the program
eventually used local volunteers dedicated to assisting individuals to achieve
their academic goals. Recruitment continues for both students and tutors. READ MORE >>
On
a crusade: Melinda Anderson serves as heart and soul of adult literacy program
in north Flint
FlintSide:
1.23.2018 by Mary Rempel
Melinda
Anderson is busy.
She
is an active member of the New Jerusalem Full Gospel Baptist Church usher
board, secretary for the New McCree Theatre board of directors, member of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority-Flint Alumni Chapter, retired teacher and grandmother of
four.
And
she is the heart and soul of New Beginnings Literacy Program.
Located
in Community Outreach for Families and Youth Center
in north Flint, Anderson serves as the program director and volunteers there at
least 30 hours a week.
At
least.
“I’m
a teacher in my soul,” Anderson says. She attended Western Michigan University
and started her first teaching job just two weeks after graduation. Her career
took her from Kalamazoo to California. When she returned to the Flint area she
worked in community education for 12 years in Flint Community Schools before
retiring in 2010.
In
2014, Elder Patrick Sanders, senior pastor at New Jerusalem, asked Anderson to
represent the church as part of the Flint Genesee Literacy Network.
And,
Anderson found a new crusade.
Anderson
trained as a literacy volunteer with a determination to reach struggling adult
readers in the north end of Flint. READ MORE >>
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