by Education and Family Engagement Commissions
The website, Raising a Reader, recently shared these statistics about reading and literacy:
- Less than half of the 16 million U.S. children who live in poverty enter school with the language and reading skills needed for success.
- 6 out of 10 children in the United States currently fail to read proficiently by grade 4.
- Low-income children without exposure to books before age 5 enter Kindergarten on average with a 30-million word deficit.
- Reading under-achievement by grade 4 = long-term academic failure
September 8th is International Literacy Day and California State PTA knows the important role that parents play in helping children cultivate a love of reading. Here are some resources for you to help your child along their literacy journey:
- Raising a Reader – California State PTA has great tips for helping children to develop language skills and become lifelong readers.
- 4 Tips to Boost Literacy Skills – Learn four ways to eliminate a “word gap” for your child.
- Reading Tips for Families – This website has videos, a daily calendar of literacy activities to do, as well as a reading glossary to help parents increase their child’s reading skills.
- Our Resource Library has several tools as well for students from preschool to high school. Simply search “reading” or “literacy”. You can also search “books” for some great reading lists.
California State PTA Presents:
A Zoom presentation by Educational Testing Service and Metametrics
September 2, 2021 – 4-5pm
We often think of test scores as the ending point of a student’s learning, a “final score.” But test results can actually be the start of learning. In this presentation you’ll learn how to use the results of state testing to find just the right tools for continuing your child’s progress in reading and math.
Register here and attend on September 2 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
During the presentation, which will be facilitated by California State PTA President Carol Green, experts from ETS and Metametrics will explain the Lexile and Quantile Framework. If you look at the 2021 Student Score Report, based on tests most students took at the end of last school year, you’ll see Lexile and Quantile measures. (You’ll find them on page 5 of this sample Student Score Report.)
You can use your child’s Lexile and Quantile measures to find their reading and math levels. The California Department of Education has arranged for all parents to have access to a set of free family-friendly tools, including Find-A-Book and Math@Home, that enable you to match learning resources and activities to your child’s learning levels in both reading and math.
These two parent guides will give you the basics.
But even better, register for and attend our September 2 presentation.