No Parent Left Behind article on reading

This article was published in the Suburban News in 2007
Our country is in a reading crisis and educators need parents to help. "US 11th graders have placed very close to the bottom [in reading ability], behind students from the Phillippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and other developing nations," found RAND, a nonprofit research organization. The 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the government's most comprehensive assessment of American education, found that while 77 percent of seniors read at or above the basic reading level, only 40 percent are proficient, and only 6 percent read at the advanced level.
So how do we make our kids better readers?
First of all, help them realize reading is work by reading with them and modeling strategies you use. Choose a magazine your child reads or find a magazine that writes about one of your child's interests, especially one you don’t know much about—say video games. Gamer magazines use enough lingo to make any non-gaming reader struggle.
Read an article with your child. When you come to an unfamiliar word, take your child through the decoding process you use. If you read a sentence you cannot understand, break it down and explain your way through it. Research shows that academic failure can often be attributed to strategic difficulties rather than limitations in learning capacity. It also shows that good readers usually use more than one reading strategy.
Major mistake in modeling reading: Do not read a passage from your child's homework. Because you have experience with this type of reading, you will probably not struggle. Reading his assignments aloud will only make the negative self talk worse because you will be modeling that reading should be easy when you want to model that reading is work.
Second, encourage reading. Good readers practice. Figure out what your child likes and find reading materials for him. Don't just focus on novels either. Graphic novels have pictures. They do not have a lot of text per page. They are not intimidating. They offer good plot development, character development, and all the other literary "stuff" educators want to expose to your child, but the story in a graphic novel is told through a combination of pictures and words which is much less intimidating for weak readers. If your local librarian doesn't know much about the graphic novel, stop into a comic book shop and ask the owner to help you find one appropriate for your child.
Bookmark some good sites for your child to read. How do you find the sites? Check out magazines that highlight the interests of your child and look for a web address. The magazine's web site will usually offer links to other sites. Not only will your child have a better experience on the web, you will be learning more about what makes your child tick and will have some conversation material.
Buy your child a subscription to a magazine. Newsweek, Time, and other news publications often offer teen versions. You can have your child use those magazines to model his reading strategies and then you can look for related articles in the adult version of the magazine and model your strategies. What a great conversation opener, and a great way to get your child involved in the world around him.
Third, encourage experience. Making meaning out of what we read relies on our ability to incorporate the new information into already existing schema, or file folders, in our mind. If you want your child to find learning easier, then help him create those file folders. You will be amazed how much easier it will be for him to understand characters, their dilemmas, the complexities of experiences and the subtleties of a plot if he has some color in his own life story. Finally, encourage your child to question. Researchers believe learners who are aware of what they don't know will decide to seek out information. Reading the information will be easier for them because they will have an interest. To spark curiosity, encourage discussion. Your child may need some time to build the courage to start asking questions. Give him time to consider what he wonders. Once he starts verbalizing his questions, you will have another chance to get to know him again.
Reading comprehension is a complex process that requires practice, hard work, resilience and determination. Don't get frustrated if your child takes baby steps. Every step he takes gets him a little closer to academic achievement and the ability to communicate better. Know that your efforts make you a good parent. Doing these reading exercises with your child will help him see that you care about his future, accept his limitations, and want to help him...and that you can have some fun and laugh at yourself every once in awhile while you are learning.