Organization reports disparities in children’s reading skills

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

If the measure of reading skills at the beginning of fourth grade is a predictor of future success, then many Illinois children may be looking at a lifetime of struggles.

By the time they’re leaving third grade, children typically make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. But in recent years, reading scores at these grade levels have barely improved in Illinois. Wide disparities among student groups remain, especially among the 45 percent of public school students who come from low-income families.

That was the conclusion of a report from Voices for Illinois Children, a group focusing on improving the lives of children throughout the state.

On Thursday morning, the group unveiled its Illinois Kids Count 2011 report at several press conferences held throughout the state, including one at the DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville. The 88-page report: “Great at Eight: Investing in the Whole Child from Birth to Eight,” sheds light on factors that influence school success and the cognitive, social-emotional and physical development of young children.

Jeanna Capito, one of the speakers at the press conference, said this report can help state legislators make better-informed decisions when it comes to policies affecting children and families.

“Children who grow up in poverty have more limited early learning opportunities and are less likely to do well in school,” said Capito, executive director of Positive Parenting DuPage. “Clearly, the recession has led to a steep increase in poverty. There’s no question in what we’ve seen. The poverty rate in DuPage County, many people would say is the lowest in the state. But we need to then consider the context of the children and families that we’re working with. (The DuPage poverty rate) was just over 5 percent in 1999-2000 and now it’s over 8 percent. In a very short period of time, it almost doubled.”

Some Naperville residents are among these statistics. According to Naperville CARES, 5,200 Naperville families lived below the federal poverty guidelines in 2010. This does not include the 11,773 families who live above the federal poverty line but at the low-income level (between $22,050 and $44,100) and have trouble purchasing basic necessities.

About 9.8 percent of District 203 families and 9.7 percent of District 204 families are considered low income.

Sue Broad, executive director of the children’s museum, was also a speaker at the press conference along with Jeff Keiser, practicum coordinator of the Seton Montessori School in Clarendon Hills; and Ed Leman, superintendent of West Chicago School District 33. Broad said she is well aware of the financial hardships people in the area are facing.

Since it opened almost 10 years ago, the museum has offered free or subsidized admissions to about 55,000 children and parents.

“The fact is, there are pockets of poverty in DuPage County and there always have been,” Broad said. “I had a legislator point out to me once that because there is no central city in our county to focus the issue, poverty remains very well hidden in our community. We do see it here.”

Broad said the museum welcomes about 300,000 visitors a year and has more than 8,000 families signed up as members. Its mission is to provide young children an environment designed for critical thinking, problem solving and parent/child interaction.

Those skills are especially important for young children who experience 85 percent of brain development before age 5. During this critical period, their learning experiences strongly predict the level of success they will experience later in life.

However, economic hardships are taking their toll. According to the Illinois Kids Count report, low-income children are more likely to have chronic health problems and are at greater risk for developmental delays. They are also more likely to be affected by family stress and are less likely to live in safe and supportive neighborhoods. The state’s fiscal crisis threatens to further erode important investments made in early childhood education and care, health insurance coverage, children’s mental health services, family supports and other essential programs and services.

Participation in state-funded pre-K programs increased 70 percent between fiscal years 2003 and 2009, but has declined in the past two years as a result of budget cuts and delayed payments to preschool providers, according to the report. Leman said cuts are decimating his district’s early childhood program. With previous enrollments as high as 380 students, program enrollments are now at 80. And unless he gets “concrete evidence” that it will get funding from the state, it probably won’t be offered next year, he said.

“That’s a significant hit to our neediest students,” he said. “And we’re already feeling the impact of that on kindergarten. Our new class of kindergartners are significantly less ready for learning than (those from) the year before.”

Martha Zych, a program coordinator for the DuPage County Health department, was among several service providers who attended the press conference. She said the report underscores the needs in DuPage County.

“At the health department we understand,” she said. “We see the stress and the effect of stress as a result of the unemployment and certainly we know the support of parents of young children is important.”

Working at the Seton Montessori School, Keiser said he has seen the value of good quality early childhood education programs. He said they teach children not only academics, but prepare them for adulthood.

“It’s about bringing up kids who have good academic knowledge but who also care about their fellow citizens and who see problems not as insurmountable mountains, but as opportunities,” he said.