Literacy begins at home, advocate says

The Los Angeles Times editorial board said the Reading First program didn't work the way it was intended. I doubt if anyone with experience in urban education is surprised at the announcement. We're disappointed that, once again, a generation of public school kids didn't get whatever is needed in order to learn to read well. But we're not surprised. We've been barking up the wrong tree a long time.

It turns out that verbal development is not so much about IQ, parental love or socioeconomic status. These skills are related to how much a child is talked to and the tone of the communications. Literacy is founded on words heard and words used. What this means is that the critical place that literacy develops is the home, not the school, and that the crucial intervention period is very early in the life of a child. Read more of Esther Jantzen's opinion piece in The Los Angeles Times online.

Jantzen is a children's literacy advocate and writer with 25 years of experience in urban school districts.