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CNN Saturday Morning News
The Hopes Behind Bush's National Reading Program
Aired September 08, 2001 - 09:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: When President Bush was the governor of Texas, he turned to research psychologist G. Reid Lyon to help design the state's reading initiative. Now Mr. Lyon is helping the Bush administration craft its national reading program.
Dr. G. Reid Lyon joins us now from Washington to talk more about it. Good morning to you, sir.
G. REID LYON, BUSH ADVISER ON EDUCATION: Good morning.
SAVIDGE: Tell us a bit about how the Bush administration's program is going to work, how it's going to get children to read at a younger age.
LYON: Well, there are several facets to it. But the foundation is that what we apply with children, or what we bring to children in classrooms, must be based upon the most solid evidence of its effectiveness. That's the first time in the history of education that that's ever been a mainstay of a particular initiative.
SAVIDGE: Where is, or what is, I guess I should ask, the grade level now where students are considered to be proficient at reading?
LYON: Typically, youngsters who are going to move forward nicely in reading do so by the third to fourth grade. From grades one to three, youngsters are learning to read. From grades four onward, they're reading to learn.
SAVIDGE: Are there certain ethnic groups, racial groups, that are having a more difficult time? And if so, how come, and what is to be done about them as well?
LYON: Well, overall about 30 percent of our nation's fourth graders are having a tough time learning how to read. Indeed, about 38 percent of them can't read well enough to understand a simple children's book. Now, if you disaggregate those data, 65 percent of African-American youngsters and 60 percent of Hispanic youngsters are in that situation. It's not so much racial or ethnic. What cuts across all lines is poverty. And poverty does some heavy damage on providing youngsters with the language and literacy foundations to get them ready to read once they come into school.
SAVIDGE: Some of the ideas that have been talked about are sort of national standards, a blanket approach. I guess one of the concerns about that is that it might hamper some teachers, especially creative ones, that might be thinking out of the box here. Does it seem to stifle that?
LYON: Not at all. In fact, what we have to remember is reading is a skill. It doesn't come naturally to kids. It is something that youngsters have to acquire by good instruction. The science that is now in place tells us there are a number of things kids have to learn to be able to learn to read.
For instance, they have to understand that sounds exist in our language, they have to apply those sounds to the print in front of them. They have to apply those kinds of skills rapidly. they have to develop strong vocabularies so they can understand what it is they're reading. And most of all, and very importantly, they have to apply comprehension strategies so, again, they can relate what they're reading to their own life.
When teachers are worried about dumbing-down curricula or it being plodding and drill and kill, that's a teaching issue. That's more how kids are being taught rather than what they need to be taught. Those particular skills I just articulated can be presented to youngsters in a vibrant, exciting way. But the point is, they have to be in place in order for kids to learn to read.
SAVIDGE: And where -- where...
LYON: For many years, the educational community felt that reading developed naturally, and that is in no way correct. It's a skill just like anything else, where we have to provide good, good instruction.
SAVIDGE: Where do parents fit in in all of this?
LYON: Parents fit in critically from birth onward. In fact, parents are their first and foremost youngsters' teachers. The kids most at risk for having reading difficulties once they enter school are those children who haven't been read to a lot by Mom and Dad, either because their life is too hectic or they can't read themselves.
Parents need to discuss and converse with their kids, expanding language and developing vocabulary, because it is indeed, as you saw Mrs. Bush reading to the youngsters with Dr. Suess, it's those kinds of interactions that highlight the sounds of the language for the kids, that provide the word knowledge that they're going to get.
And these kids are learning a heck of a lot more than we ever thought they could from birth onward. I mean, youngsters by a year of age, if they are interacted with in these ways, can figure out every sound, and not only in our language but in every language in the country. And after 18 months of age, kids, if they receive these good parent-child or grandparent-child interactions, are picking up about nine new words a day.
SAVIDGE: Mr. Lyon, thanks very much for joining us this morning. G. Reid Lyon is working with the Bush administration to come up with a national reading program. We wish you good luck in that. Thank you. LYON: Thank you, sir, glad to be here.
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