Why Can't Johnny Read?

An ambitious five-year, $50-million study to determine the best ways to prepare America's youth for success in school may help librarians secure more funding in the future. At least, that's the hope of Kathleen Reif, a member of a Maryland Association of Public Library Administrators task force that encourages parents to read to their preschoolers. Reif, who is the director of the Wicomico County Free Library in Salisbury, MD, expects the new study to demonstrate the importance of public libraries in helping young children get ready to read.

The study, which has been launched by the Bush administration, will examine all areas of children's development, including the social, emotional, and cognitive skills necessary for young children to successfully learn to read. School and public librarians, as well as members of the American Library Association, will have input in the study, says G. Reid Lyon, chief of the child development and behavior branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD), the federal agency charged with overseeing the project. "I think the librarian is as critical a part of this as anybody else," he says. The study was first discussed at the White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development, which was convened, in July, by First Lady Laura Bush.

Given the high rate of failure in reading among schoolchildren, the study arrives not a moment too soon. At present, says NICHHD's Lyon, there's a 38 percent failure rate in reading among our children. What that means is that more than one-third of fourth graders and eighth graders can't read well enough to comprehend a simple children's story. And of that 38 percent, he adds, 64 percent are African-American children and 60 percent are Hispanic students. "They haven't learned to read, and they can't read to learn," Lyon says.

Although Lyon emphasizes that the study is still in its early stages, he says that a lot is already known about teaching reading. For starters, researchers know that there isn't one particular curriculum that's effective in teaching all kids to read. For that reason, says Lyon, the study will explore the effectiveness of a number of curriculums. Lyon hopes that the study will eventually narrow the gap between what is scientifically known about reading acquisition and what educators and parents of young children practice. For more information on the study and information on what librarians can do to help children learn to read, see NICHHD's Web site (www.nichd.nih.gov) and the Public Library Association's Web site (www.pla.org).