by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
As a young child, my parents and teachers taught me to read - and that empowering legacy carried me from a small row house in South Baltimore to the Congress of the United States. Now, when we debate federal education funding in the Congress, we must confront the grim statistic that 40% of American fourth graders are reading below grade level.
An even higher percentage of African American children (69%) are poor readers at this age. Of all the nation=s fourth graders who have not yet gained reading proficiency, 4.5 million are black children.
I do not need statistics to remind me how important it is for every child to master reading at an early age. The young men and women marooned on the street corner near my home are urgent reminders of a failure too profound to forget.
Frustration and rejection in school have left their faces forlorn, their veins filled with dope, their hearts bereft of hope. In sharp contrast to my own childhood experience, these young people failed to acquire the single most important skill in modern life.
Soon it will be September, and for just a few moments each morning, the youngest children in my neighborhood will join the drug addicts on their nearby street corner. Then, the crossing guard will lead the smaller children across the street and send them on their way to the temporary safety of our local elementary school.
If nothing changes, however, far too many of America=s young school children will fail to learn how to read. Then, they too will find themselves consigned to their neighborhood=s drug corner, leaving only for occasional trips to the local jail.
In a nation as wealthy and talented as America, that is an unacceptable destiny for any child.
President Clinton challenged us in 1997 to teach every American child - and especially our poorest children - to read by the end of the 3rd grade. Although those in the Congress with different priorities rejected the cost of fully implementing the President=s plan, we were able to pass the Reading Excellence Act of 1999. We allocated an additional $260 million for this year and next in support of state programs to improved the quality of reading instruction in America=s poorest schools..
In a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Riley last May, I commended the comprehensive Areading excellence@ proposal which Maryland had submitted in the national competition for these federal funds. This week, Dr. Nancy Grasmick, Maryland=s School Superintendent, and I were able to announce a $14.2 million federal award to improve the reading ability of Maryland=s poorest school children.
Baltimore City=s public schools and other financially pressed local systems will now decide how best to utilize these additional federal resources to provide better-trained reading teachers and expanded tutoring and summer school programs.
In addition to expanded help for teachers and tutors, Dr. Grasmick has insightfully observed that parents must become full partners in the reading instruction of their children. That is the lesson of my own childhood experience.
Parents are guaranteed that important role by the federal Areading excellence@ legislation. As part of a complementary state initiative, Maryland education leaders will implement a Afamily reading plan@ within every elementary school. Teachers will provide specific reading activities parents can do at home to improve their children=s reading skills.
America=s children are calling us all back to school. In Baltimore City, however, only about 75 of our 180+ schools currently have functioning PTAs. On September 11, I will join Dr. Robert Booker, our School System=s CEO, as well as other Baltimore City educators and parents, for an all-day conference devoted to the problems and promise of AEnhancing Student Success through Family Empowerment.@
With the help of Dr. James P. Comer - renowned leader of Yale
=s University=s School Development Program - Baltimore=s parents, teachers and school administrators will begin to relearn the art of working together to uplift children=s lives.-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.