Reading scores, skills need improving

The latest Illinois state test results show a somewhat alarming trend - state reading scores for high school juniors are dropping. In the case of the suburbs, scores are flattening.

Two questions emerge: Are the tests good enough to be indicators of a problem? And, if there is a problem, what to do about it, especially now that we are in the "Digital Age?"

Average statewide reading scores released Friday show 53.3 percent of 11th-graders in public schools met state standards, down from 54.1 percent in 2007 and the third straight year that high school reading scores dropped.

Locally, suburban schools performed at or above the state average, with scores remaining flat or declining.

A Friday story by Daily Herald staff writer Matt Arado points out that the tests this year were different, with some educators claiming an apples and oranges comparison. The state eliminated a test that was normally given to students new to the English language, instead making those students take the same test as other students.

The argument is valid, but that doesn't explain the drop-off in scores between 2006 and 2007. And it shouldn't be an excuse to not closely examine how our children read and what can be done to encourage more of it.

In fact, reading must continually be emphasized at all school levels. And just as important, parents needs to reinforce the notion that reading is important and can be fun.

That means getting your children to turn off the TV, the computer, the cell phone. That means actually spending time reading yourself, either by modeling good behavior or by reading to your younger children.

At the high school level, the trick to getting teens to read more falls even more squarely on their teachers. As Arado reported Friday, the more creative approaches seem to be working and we applaud those teachers and encourage others to follow their model.

Naperville Central High School, for example, has a literacy program aimed at freshmen who show a deficiency in reading. St. Charles North focuses on reading in English and social studies classes. And its writing center uses the study of writing to change students' approach to reading. Other schools are looking at updating reading lists with newer titles that might catch a teenager's imagination. And still others make sure that their students are able to talk and debate the topics of books they are required to read.

All these are important avenues to explore if we expect students to take reading seriously in an age when texting, e-mails, video games and the like have cut into their time and their knowledge base.

Futurists point to a world not that far removed that would have talking computers replacing all writing and reading as we know it.

We hope that's not the case. Instead, we agree with Naperville Central literacy teacher Maxyne Kozil, who said: "The rise of the Internet doesn't mean the need for literacy skills goes away. We still have to show students how to think and read critically, even if it's on a Web site." That's a challenge for us now and for the generations to come.