By Earl Martin Phalen, CEO, Reach Out and Read

Many of America’s parents are not reading aloud to their children.

In fact, fewer than half (48 percent) of young children in the United State are read to daily. The percentage of children read to daily drops even lower (to 36 percent) among low-income families, whose children face the highest risk of literacy problems.

Why aren’t they reading? There are parents who have low literacy rates themselves and don’t think they have the skills to effectively read aloud. (In actuality, a parent who talks about pictures in a book or even sings to a child can help develop early language skills.)

There are families who live in poverty and lack money for new books, time to read in between jobs, and access to public libraries. And there are parents who were not read to as children themselves and may not realize the tremendous value of reading to and spending that quality one-on-one time with their children.

That’s where Reach Out and Read comes in. Since 1989, we have been on the ground in communities across the country promoting the importance of reading. Through a network of more than 28,000 pediatricians who serve as trusted messengers to families, we are empowering parents to take control of their children’s futures.

Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.

Our early literacy intervention begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age five, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Reach Out and Read serves more than four million children annually via more than 4,900 hospitals, health centers, and pediatric clinics in all 50 states.

We are “immunizing” children against illiteracy in the critical years before they enter school, and ensuring that our nation’s children achieve their potential in school – and in life. There is so much work to be done! Our pediatricians often tell me that the Reach Out and Read books they give to a child are the only books in a family’s home.

We could not impact so many children and families without the incredible support of partners such as Knowledge Universe. We have come together in many ways:

• To mark the “Month of the Military Child” in April, Knowledge Universe’s KinderCare donated 10,000 books to support Reach Out and Read’s work on 55 U.S. military bases.
• Reach Out and Read is a beneficiary of KinderCare’s “Read.Share.Give.” initiative, and was the featured nonprofit in a PSA about Knowledge Universe’s work around early literacy.
• We were thrilled to welcome Knowledge Universe officials to Reach Out and Read’s national conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this year to provide expertise and ideas to our leaders.

And perhaps, most importantly, Knowledge Universe and Reach Out and Read are working together to remind parents to read to their children on a daily basis.

A child’s future success starts at home with parents who have the desire – and who are enabled with the tools – to make sure their child is on the road to a bright future.

It all starts with reading from birth.

For reading tips, doctor-recommended books, and other early literacy resources, click here. Follow Reach Out and Read on Twitter and on Facebook.

About Earl Martin Phalen
Earl Martin Phalen became the Chief Executive Officer of Reach Out and Read in September 2009. In this role, Phalen leads the Reach Out and Read organization, providing vision and direction for its early literacy promotion efforts nationwide. Previously, he was the CEO of Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) a national nonprofit organization he cofounded in 1992. He is a recipient of a Mind Trust Fellowship and is also the Founder and Chair of Summer Advantage USA, which combats summer learning loss. Phalen received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based non-profit organization that promotes literacy and school readiness in the exam rooms of pediatricians around the country. They are also an important partner that KinderCare works with to place books in the hands of children in need through our national literacy program, Read. Share. Give.

Early childhood educators and pediatricians alike understand, probably better than anyone else, that a child’s earliest years, from 0 to 3, are the most critical time for language development. But unfortunately, many parents do not realize the critical importance of these early years and may miss the opportunity to support their child’s early literacy and language development.

We know through research that 70 percent of brain development happens in the first three years of a child’s life, and those earliest experiences impact a child’s ability to think, to speak, to learn and most importantly to establish relationships. We also know that after three years of age, it is increasingly difficult to make up for differences in children’s language ability.

Unfortunately, we’re not investing in children at the right time. Public expenditures in education and health services for our youngest children are considerably less than what is spent on individuals later in life. But if we could do it right in the beginning, we would make a much bigger difference.

As we and partners like Reach Out and Read understand, parents can’t do it alone. Parents are the first and foremost teachers of children, but they need a partnership with early childhood educators, local communities and health care professionals. The work of Reach Out and Read supports this critical period by partnering with doctors to “prescribe” books to children during their well-child visits and exams and encouraging families to read. Having books accessible and available to children is so critical and important, which is why Reach Out and Read’s efforts to educate parents and “prescribe” books to children every time they visit the doctor between six months of age and five years is an unbelievable resource for parents.

Children are probably our most overlooked population, and the real prescription for success is investing in our youngest citizens. Learning to read and communicate is the best foundation they can have, and early childhood educators and pediatricians are in a unique position to help build this foundation, whether in the preschool classroom or the exam room.

We are truly honored to partner with Reach Out and Read and the thousands of pediatricians across the country on this incredible journey. There is probably no effort that is closer to the heart of what we do in providing books for children. The connection between what we do and Reach Out and Read is so powerful and we’re all working toward the same end to make our children more literate and better leaders in our future.

SMART’s program relies on volunteer readers who spend time with two children at a school, weekly throughout the academic year. Hundreds of KU employees have been SMART readers over the years, including our General Counsel Liz Large, who is on SMART’s board. Every one of those volunteers has experienced first-hand the magical moments that are a regular part of what SMART does. I can tell you that going into a classroom to meet a student, and seeing that child’s excited expression, is something that has never failed to provoke some of my widest smiles and biggest throat lumps.

Through reading together, through being there every week, through modeling success, through demonstrating care and concern, SMART and its volunteer readers enhance, change, improve, and, in many cases, SAVE children’s lives.

Congratulations to SMART on 20 amazing years!

Professional development for teachers can seem like a broad label. What does it really mean? Why do we, as a company, think that it is so fundamentally important? What are the benefits to our teachers, the children, and the families we serve?

Professional development is the opportunity for our teachers to obtain knowledge, participate in training, and gain and practice skills around many crucial areas that impact their daily professional lives and have positive impacts on the children and families we serve. The more our teachers know, the better trained they are at their jobs; the more skills they possess, then the safer, better cared for, and more educationally prepared are the children.

The knowledge needed by our teachers span vastly different topics, which fall into five domains: Relationships, Classroom/Learning Environments, Instruction, Assessment, and Professionalism. We anchor our trainings to these domains and we are strategic in their order of development, process of design, and timing of implementation.

During Professional Development Day (PDD) this year, for example, we are offering courses in the Classroom/Learning Environments and Professionalism domains.

The first is called Demonstrating Respect for and the Protection of Children: The Promise. This annual renewal course imparts the commitment we make to children and families to ensure children’s safety, treat all children with respect 100% of the time, and remember our teachers’ responsibility as mandated reporters, by pledging to report any suspicion of child abuse. This powerful training equips our teachers with the skills to recognize abuse and report it.

The second training, Inspire and Lead: Review and Blueprints for Professional Development, supports teachers’ professional growth at KU and challenges teachers to be leaders of, and in, their lives.

Lastly, Developmentally Appropriate Learning Environments is broken into three different sections based on the age group of children that the teacher educates, which makes the training relevant immediately for each teacher.

More knowledge and better understanding of children’s safety, a commitment to teacher growth and professionalism, and understanding the learning needs of each age group of children helps us to build knowledge and skills within our KU teachers.

Professional development is vitally important to obtaining, keeping, and encouraging our KU teachers. What better way to value them as professionals and remind them that they are each important to our company and to the lives of the children and families we all serve?

Make it a goal today to thank a teacher for what he or she does for our children and families. Tell him or her how much we honor and respect them, because we know that teaching is not only difficult and rewarding, but the most noble and selfless profession that exists!

I prefer to counsel parents to use those resources, but to then rely upon their own senses: sight, sound, smell, hearing and touch to drive their final decision. Of course, this requires the parents to take an active role by making visits to prospective schools, talking with the school personnel, and visiting active classrooms in session.

Then, I tell parents that the purpose of visiting schools in person and using their senses is so that they can see whether or not there is any evidence that learning is taking place. After all, the main purpose of attending school is to learn.

Evidence of learning can take many shapes. Regardless of its form, this evidence is one of the most important ways that a school can communicate the growth and development of their students to the parents and to the students themselves.

It is important for parents to see in concrete ways how their child is learning. It is even more important for the student to reflect upon that learning by the reminders presented through evidence of learning displays in the class and throughout the school. Students learn best when they can make easy connections between their new learning and their past learning. I have witnessed firsthand time and time again students reconnecting with their past learning by interacting with the evidence of learning displays in their classroom.

I explain to parents that evidence of learning is not just a bulletin board that shows the completed work of the students. It is a display that shows the process that students went through as part of their learning. The process of engaging students actively is where the real learning takes place.

A good rule of thumb is that if a school does not have any rich evidence of learning for parents and students to see, then you may want to ask about it or think twice before enrolling your child in that school. A true school of learning should look, feel, and sound like a place of learning.

I advise parents to use as much information as possible when they are considering in which school to enroll their children. However, I always tell them to trust their own senses over everything else.

On September 29-30, 2011, Columbia University’s Latin America Student Association held its annual conference entitled “A Positive Outlook of the Region, Lessons Learned & Challenges Ahead.” The conference explored a range of trending topics including challenges and opportunities in education for Latino children in the U.S. and throughout Latin America, sustainable energy and overcoming conflict in transitions.

I had the privilege of sitting on a panel that focused on the critical issue of improving education for Latino children together with two distinguished colleagues including Adrian M. Fenty, the former Mayor of the District of Columbia, who became a national leader in urban education reform after changing the District public school governance structure and improving student test scores and graduation rates from 2007-2010. Fabrizio Alcobe-Fierro, Senior Vice President of Administration for Univision Networks, also joined us, offering his perspective as a creative industry leader overseeing all education and social initiatives for this global Latino media outlet.

This discussion regarding the challenges facing Latino children in the United States is vital given the growing role Latino children will play in America’s future. The data are striking: Nearly 25 percent of America’s children under 18 years of age are Latino, up from 17 percent only a decade ago. In 2009, 11 percent of the Latino population was under five years of age compared to only six percent of the non-Latino population.

Latinos are the country’s largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic minority, yet their record of college completion is significantly below that of any other major demographic group. The consequences for both the Latino community and for our nation are enormous. So, where do we start in the effort to empower long-term educational success for Latino children? Studies and research continue to provide the key findings that tell us a child’s earliest experiences establish the foundation for brain development and future success. Latino parents than any others to consider early childhood education imperative for their children’s success and our future.

Increasing awareness and understanding of the importance of early childhood education amongst Latino families is key.
Latino children have fewer books at home and are less likely to be read to than white children in households with similar demographics. According to La Raza, Latino children under five are less likely to attend early childhood education programs than white or African American children (50 percent compared to approximately 60 percent). The difference is even greater for Latino children living in poverty (45 percent compared to 65 percent). Developing strong partnerships between early childhood education programs and Latino families to ensure shared responsibility in supporting children’s growth and development, as well as ensuring access to quality early childhood education programs for Latino children is critical to successful education outcomes.

Programs need to support the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children.
With Latino preschool enrollments declining between 2005 and 2009, early learning programs need to meet the needs of children who are English language learners (ELLs) by including experts on ELL in the development of state early learning standards and creating opportunities to expand the number of Latino teachers in early childhood learning.

By 2050, 30 percent of the U.S. workforce will be Latino. As the most rapidly growing ethnic demographic of the U.S. population, it’s imperative that Latino children have access to quality early learning programs that will give them the foundation to succeed in school and life. Ensuring access to quality early childhood programs for Latino children is critical not only to individual children and families, but to our entire nation.

As I share my thoughts with friends and colleagues, I have begun to wonder if, with our hurried and often over committed schedules, we might be missing the opportunity to engage with our children and families, or participate within our communities to take full advantage of this time of the year.

Halloween – while this holiday event has some very mixed reviews, could this be a time for children to focus on their creativity and possibly take the time to introduce ourselves and/or visit with our neighbors to build a deeper sense of community?

Veterans Day – regardless of your current political stance, this day is set aside to recognize those men and women who have served in our military in a variety of ways. Could this be an opportunity for us and our children to connect, create a card or listening to a story as a way of saying, “thank- you” for protecting our freedom?

Thanksgiving – besides having a day set aside for a celebration with family and/or friends, this holiday lends itself to community service and hands-on learning for people of all ages. There are so many great charitable organizations to work with that it can be overwhelming. Yet, is this an opportunity to choose one that you, your family or friends can commit to over a long period of time?

Until I really get to know the people involved, I have not experienced the long lasting benefits in working with an organization. This type of activity could be the first step in creating a family tradition that focuses on the true purpose of this special holiday throughout the year.

I would be interested in hearing and learning about your thoughts and comments as we approach this exciting time of the year.

For example:

Scenario One: A family was sitting next to me at dinner and I could not help but overhear their conversation while I was waiting to be served. I was impressed by the exchange between what appeared to be around 4- and 6-year-old girls and their father about their day and all of the events that transpired. It was so relaxed and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, as did I. As I was leaving, I shared my experience with the father and he beamed and hugged his girls.

Scenario two: While shopping at a local drug store, three school-aged children were tossing small balls from a bin at each other with no adult in sight. I looked around after a couple of balls rolled underneath my shopping cart and asked the children if that was the reason the store had put the balls in the bin? They stopped, looked at me, dropped the balls and ran off. I rounded the corner and saw that the children were with an adult waiting for a prescription; nothing more was said.

I have been a part of several discussions around these two scenarios and have been surprised at the number of people who thought I had stepped out of line or who have been afraid to speak out due to possible reactions from the responsible adults.

What do you think? Are we becoming so removed from what is happening around us that we are hesitant to engage with those involved? I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and or suggestions.