[NIFL-POVRACELIT:702] Literacy Rates and Reality

From: Matthew Scelza (matthewscelza@caliteracy.org)
Date: Wed Jan 30 2002 - 13:20:02 EST


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From: Matthew Scelza <matthewscelza@caliteracy.org>
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Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:702] Literacy Rates and Reality
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Hello,

This was the conclusion of an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. 
 From the issue
dated February 1, 2002.

  Will Anyone Accept the Good News on Literacy?

  By DENNIS BARON

"Perhaps the most important lesson of the literacy survey and
  its analyses is that although the literacy of the original low
  scorers has been upgraded, their socio-economic status remains
  what it was before. They still earn less than high scorers,
  have fewer years of schooling, vote less often, and don't read
  newspapers. The 2001 literacy report goes a long way to
  disentangle literacy measurement from other indicators of
  achievement, but it does not tell us how to improve the
  capabilities of those whose reading really is inadequate, how
  to address the disparities in educational achievement among
  the races, or how to reverse the widening economic gap between
  the haves and the have-nots."

It summarizes my growing feeling that much of the talk about leaving no 
child behind (a nifty trademark infringement on the Children's Defense 
Fund, by the way) is a very smooth way to talk about bridging racial and 
economic gaps without managing to talk about race or class.  Anyone else 
have this impression?

Peace,
Matthew Scelza
California Literacy, Inc.  



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