The Literacy Pandemic

It’s a brewing pandemic in itself, a literacy pandemic. Many students across the nation have stopped reading books. For some their comprehension levels have decreased by 1 to 3 grade levels, due to distance learning, teacher burnout, educator shortage, and extreme screen time over reading development at home. This is a literacy crisis alert. Currently, in American middle schools there is a literacy crisis impending. If we don’t fix the state of the current systems in place, schools might be facing some severe consequences of a generation lacking in comprehension depth. Research conducted by the New York City Department of Education’s Middle School Quality Initiative shows that adolescents across America, even though they have significantly higher reading skills, are falling behind in comprehension and struggle to understand long texts or the books they read. Reading is nothing without awareness; hence, it is very crucial to teach students how to read for analytical comprehension.

Without strong analytical skills, later these middle school youth would face serious issues handling comprehensive tasks in all subjects at the High School level- often leaving college out of reach. This is because a good chunk of High School and College depends upon how good you are at understanding complex texts and analyzing them in your own words. This fails if the student is unable to polish their comprehension skills at the Middle School level; thus, teachers need to be fully empowered to support students in making it happen. 

Literacy Crisis and Teaching

One of the main reasons why this gap between students reading and comprehension continues to widen is that the teaching staff are not fully prepared and equipped to first recognize the symptoms of this Crisis and then remedy it while focusing on state grade level standards. Teachers and educators are working closely with children, and administrators need to be sure that they are able to detect how lack of comprehension is affecting middle schoolers, and how it may play out in the future when they are given even more challenging content. 

The answer can not just be changing the curriculum or enforcing higher standards because this issue needs correction from the ground, bringing a shift in methods of teaching from the C.O.R.E. Many teachers and administrators lack the connection with their students that can help bring change in their lives. With a sincere connection to students, educators become primary motivators to study and develop comprehension for long-term benefits. Instead many are focusing on doing just enough to pass the class. Unless teachers create stronger connections with their students, they can not activate the academic leap students need to get back on track. 

At the same time, teachers are also lacking organization skills and online and offline support tools to help students stay organized and focused on the task that they are reading. Teachers and administrators need strategic collaborative efforts to ensure students have an organizational standard and educators remain on the same page. 

What can be done to Remedy this Literary Crisis?

Some measures need to be taken by educators to make the necessary changes. Here are a few things educators do to remedy the Literary Crisis from the grassroots level:

• Instructions and engaging activities that would develop an interest in reading to understand and not just reading
• Teachers working in collaboration from different disciplines to develop this skill that can be applied across various fields
• Giving students the opportunity to collaborate on complex tasks and help each other understand
• Introduction of domain-specific vocabulary that they can understand, be interested in, and relate to
• Applying for a literacy program like C.O.R.E. to Literacy to help bring connectivity, organization, and other inclusive activities for students
• Building comprehension strategies to help students turn reading into a fun activity that they must take a lesson from

How can The C.O.R.E to Literacy Program help?

Choosing The C.O.R.E. to Literacy Program will allow you to attain the following goals:

C – Connectivity with students

O – Organization for student accountability

R – Reading Engagement and exposure

E – Evidence of learning

With the main aim of sharpening students’ comprehension skills, we bring transformative experiences that would help instructors and administrators to foster an environment where comprehension is valued over fluency. 

Through our Reading engagement activity, we offer the following:

Student Choice 

One of the features of our reading engagement training is using exposure activities. This gives students a choice to select content based on their preference and receiving guidance to comprehend based on the state’s standards. This is done to ensure that students are getting hands-on practice on this skill and can perform well in future examinations. 

Bringing Books to Life

The goal of The C.O.R.E. to Literacy Program is to help educators establish ways to relate to students through literacy and connect it to the world- the world of technology, social media, and a sustainable future. 

Teaching Education Gratitude

Many modern students in America have lost appreciation for their free education. They can be dismissive and and lack motivation to learn and apply themselves. Adjusting their state of mind about receiving an education and reminding them that they not only have the ability to contribute to their education, they can actually create the intensity of it with their actions. 

Ready for a consultation on how begin The CORE Literacy Program? Give us a call now! 754-900-7429