Welcome to our “Job/Trades/Education” issue! Businesses everywhere are short on staff, making the search for talent difficult these days. North Bay staffing and executive recruiting firms help employers identify and recruit top talent. In this month’s cover story, “In Search of Gold,” local recruiters speak out and offer an overview of what’s happening in the North Bay, and how they can save employers time and money.
Literacy
What these firms can’t do, however—especially staffing firms—is teach candidates to read. The challenges of being successful in any field are more profound than ever before. We’ll debate for decades whether the decision by government and teachers’ unions to unilaterally close public schools was the right decision during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. We will not, regrettably, have to argue about the damage this decision has had on our next generation’s ability to read, write and perform even the most basic math functions. Presently, 36 million U.S. citizens don’t have these abilities above a third-grade level, according to Proliteracy Worldwide.
The children of these adults are 72% more likely than their peers to be poor readers. Scientists are certain that a child’s mind must be thoroughly engaged by parents before starting kindergarten. Too often, this is not the case. Students who are behind at kindergarten, make up the largest portion of high school dropouts and have less than a 12% chance of attending college, according to The Children’s Reading Foundation.
Despite everyone knowing that these skills are vitally important to a child’s development, employment and “connection” to a productive society, it’s a continuous cycle we see over and over again in this intergenerational plague.
By the fourth grade, 65% of students are below “basic” or “proficient” reading. By the eighth grade, 56% remain below these levels. I think you know where this is going. Studies by the Barbara Bush Foundation show that one in five Americans currently lack the ability to fill out a job application, much less a college application. Proliteracy Worldwide measured the economic damage due to productivity loss, crime and tax losses—it’s a whopping $225 billion each year. The human damage is even greater, revealing itself among the homeless and prison communities.
We now know that two-thirds of students who lack proficient reading skills by the fourth grade end up in jail or on welfare. And 85% of American youth involved in the juvenile justice system are classified as functionally illiterate. And yes, illiteracy is now the greatest commonality of those incarcerated in the U.S. Seven out of 10 inmates are functionally illiterate.
Illiteracy is the No. 1 challenge facing employers these days. Nevertheless, society seems to be collectively shrugging and saying “So what?” Or, perhaps many would say, “We had no idea.”
The Accelerated Reader Program
But we can fix this! In January, Guy Fieri joined me to launch the Accelerated Reader program with fourth and fifth grade students at five elementary schools in Sonoma County, and we have been stunned by its effectiveness to raise reading levels.
With guidance from middle school principals and superintendents, our six-month Beta test with 475 fourth and fifth grade students concluded in June. These great kids—from all backgrounds and with varying reading experience—were encouraged and incentivized to read adventure books, fiction books, historical novels and just good old-fashioned fun books, such as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
When we reviewed the data of this Beta test, we were shocked by the results. A total of 475 students read 14,175 books—an average of 30 books per child! In addition, more than 60% of the children exceeded their reading goal, and 95 of these fourth and fifth graders read in excess of 1 million words worth of books! (When was the last time you or I did that?)
Ron Calloway, then superintendent of the Mark West Union School District, coordinated the efforts of several other fine superintendents, including Nate Meyers, Lisa Christopherson and Matt Reno. A $300,000 grant from the Susan & Lawrence Amaturo Giving Fund will continue to support in-school efforts. This school year, we’re expanding the program to include all students from first through sixth grade. We will track, incentivize, and encourage these young readers through high school, and can’t wait to see if we can correct the awful arc of illiteracy.
We can’t do this alone. Guy and I will shower you and your company with gratitude and acknowledgment, if you will join us to spread this program’s benefits across the North Bay. Barbie Simpson—a mom, grandmother and a helluva business leader in the HVAC industry—has joined us in our cause and is already making a difference. She made a point of reading to her children, inherently knowing that preparation for kindergarten was critical. Now she’s encouraging others to follow her lead.
I ask you to please help support or expand our efforts. Please contact me at Lawrence@NorthBaybiz.com. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this month’s issue and to learn more, check out “A Focus on Literacy.”
