By LaKeshia N. Myers
Representative LaKeshia Myers
Wisconsin, we have a problem. A reading problem; according to Wisconsin Literacy, one in seven Wisconsin adults struggle with low literacy. Meaning they struggle to understand short, simple sentences and perform simple tasks. Adults with below basic literacy would have trouble filling out forms and following printed instructions (Wisconsin Literacy, 2024). Of Wisconsin’s K-12 students, only thirty-four percent of third graders were proficient in reading on the most recent Wisconsin Forward Exam (Wisconsin Public Radio, 2023). Wisconsin’s achievement gap between Black and white fourth grade students in reading has often been the worst in the nation.
Last summer, Governor Tony Evers signed into law Act 20, a bill that allocated $50 million dollars to create a new literacy office, hire reading coaches and shift away from what has been known as “balanced literacy” to a “science of reading” approach. The legislation mandates that all teachers of students in kindergarten-third grade be trained in the five pillars of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. There is also a push by educators to have more open dialogue with parents to ensure they understand the need for kindergarteners to begin school with certain reading skills already intact.
Many students arrive at the schoolhouse door one to two grade levels behind, due to inadequate vocabulary development. When teachers and speech-language pathologists talk about vocabulary, they are referring to the set of words that a child knows. Vocabulary can be split into two types: receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary. A child’s receptive vocabulary consists of the words the child understands when he/she hears or reads them. A child’s expressive vocabulary consists of the words the child uses when he/she speaks. According to child development scholars, the typical 4-year-old child should have about a 1,500–1,600-word vocabulary.
This Black History Month, my office has selected literacy as our focus. We have committed to ensuring Wisconsin families understand the literacy issues plaguing students and families. We also want to share valuable resources with those who have children and adults who struggle with literacy. I encourage adults seeking literacy help to visit https://wisconsinliteracy.org/resources/resources/online-learning-for-adults.html or contact Wisconsin Literacy at (608) 257-1655. For students who are struggling with literacy, https://wisconsinliteracy.org/resources/resources/programming.html.
Shirley Chisholm once said, “there is no real place in this country for unskilled people”—I agree. Literacy is the basic skill that can determine the trajectory of one’s life. A child of parents with low literacy is 72% more likely to have low literacy. A patient with low health literacy has 4 times the medical costs annually. An adult without a high school diploma makes $10,000 less a year than an adult with one. Today’s jobs require literacy and numeracy skills beyond the basic levels, with a growing demand for technical skills (Wisconsin Literacy, 2024).
Therefore, literacy is the next great civil rights frontier. I am encouraging everyone to explore Act 20, get involved in championing literacy by visiting your local library, volunteering to read at a school, or sharpening your own literacy skills by reading for leisure. For parents of young children, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Age Six by Maya Payne Smart. Together, we can ensure our state is more literate!