A young reader displayed much gratitude for the program.
I’m thrilled to share that a small but dedicated group of educators here in the North Bay are successfully cutting prison time, lowering poverty rates and reducing childhood pregnancy. Their solution? Reading. Lots and lots of reading for our second through sixth graders.
Over 51 million adults in the United States are stuck at third-grade reading levels or even lower. Worse yet, even though California has the country’s largest education budget, it has the greatest percentage of functionally illiterate adults. Yes, more than the population in West Virginia, more than Alabama and certainly more than Mississippi. According to statistics, 23% of Californians 15 or older are functionally illiterate. In other words, these residents can’t fill out a job application properly, read a recipe, navigate through Google or read this very column.
Perhaps you’re asking how this relates in prison time, poverty and pregnancy? The fixable solution is improving literacy! Despite what the cable news pundits shout at us, an even greater commonality among our incarcerated population than skin color… is illiteracy. According to ProLiteracy.org, 76% of U.S. inmates are functionally illiterate. White prisoners, Black prisoners, Hispanic prisoners are united in their mutual inability to fill out a job application. It’s no wonder they’ve turned to crime for their income. And, yes, illiteracy is the driver for incarceration and one’s path to welfare sustenance.
Seven out of 10 fourth graders who read below a fourth-grade level will end up on government assistance and/or in prison, according to literary statistics cited by prosperityforall.org.
Think about that. Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amie Carter says it best: “Children must learn to read by the end of fourth grade so that they may begin to read to learn in fifth grade.” How very frickin’ true. The fourth grade is the moment when the arc of a child’s life either bends toward prosperity and independence, or bends toward a life that no child deserves to live.
North Bay chef and Food Network host Guy Fieri and I, “unabashed C students,” as we refer to ourselves, have set in motion a program to bend the curve in an incredibly positive way. We call it “Read On, Sonoma!” and are proud to include Barbie Simpson, Troy Sanderson, Brett Martinez and Khalid Acheckzai in our crusade. Each of these leaders, as well as Dr. Carter of the Sonoma County Office of Education, have helped guide and promote ReadOnSonoma.org. (I’m gonna ask for your help, too; stay tuned dear reader!)
Guy and I asked ourselves a simple question:
What if reading for second through sixth graders became a game instead of a chore? To find out, in the midst of the pandemic, we recruited six amazing elementary school teachers to help us with the program. Read on Sonoma records and rewards a child when he or she reads a book of their choice, and measures outcomes with an online test to confirm comprehension. They earn points with every book. They then use those points to “buy” coloring kits, book lights, T-shirts and rulers. If they read a little extra, they buy a day at Scandia Family Fun Center, Snoopy’s Home Ice rink or Poppy Bank Epicenter. Reading just a bit more and they buy a Kindle e-reader, a 55-inch TV for their family or a laptop computer for themselves. Dozens qualify to win $300 in cash for their own education account at Exchange Bank, Redwood Credit Union or Poppy Bank.
Every second through sixth grader at six Sonoma County elementary schools—roughly 1,150 of them—took the leap last year. Their teachers—aka Read On Sonoma coordinators—led and inspired these children to read 41,328 books over the last school year. Yes, 41,328 books read in nine months by 1,150 elementary school students. Straight A students, special-education students, Spanish-speaking students, boys and girls from all walks of life participated.
They passed over 93% of all reading comprehension quizzes. Several classes had 100% success in meeting and exceeding their reading goals each trimester. Over 120 of these students became coveted “Million Word Readers.”
Best of all, those who met their Read On Sonoma goals were those who had the greatest increases in STAR test results, the statewide measure of literacy.
The Amaturo Family Foundation, a charitable fund dedicated to education since 1986, paid for the hundreds of knick-knacks, T-shirts, laptops, TVs and education accounts for these accomplishing youngsters to the tune of $300,000 so far.
How about getting involved with Guy and me? We’ve got the current 1,150 students’ needs covered for this school year; a crisp $100 bill will pay for each additional student’s participation. Send along $1,000 for 10 students, or perhaps fund additional elementary schools for about $30,000. You will be forever changing the arc of these young students’ lives… and what could be more fulfilling than that?
You’ll be ending prison sentences, teenage pregnancies, food scarcity and welfare enrollment before they ever happen!
Go to readonsonoma.org or drop me a line at Lawrence@northbaybiz.com. I’d be so thankful!
