New MU Education Post to Emphasize Value of Reading

By Sara Agnew, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Jul. 8–Education experts at the University of Missouri-Columbia believe learning to read is the key to success in school and life.

They hope a new Chancellor’s Chair at the MU College of Education will help develop new ways to better teach and encourage young children to read, especially elementary students from lower-income and minority backgrounds.

“These are the children who far too often get off to a weak start in reading and fail to progress in later years,” said Carolyn Herrington, dean of the MU College of Education. “If the fundamental reading skills aren’t mastered by 6, 7 or 8 years of age, it is hard to be successful in other areas.”

By the time students reach adolescence, they have learned to employ coping strategies to mask their deficiencies from others, Herrington said.

“Early fundamental skills in reading are paramount to other successes,” she added.

The new position will encourage research collaboration among a number of experts at the university — including those in psychology, medicine, education, health professions and human environmental sciences — to improve researchers’ understanding of how children learn to read and how best to prepare educators to teach reading.

The new faculty member also will help prepare graduate students and look into the connection between reading and after-school programs, extracurricular activities and public policy.

Herrington said MU would immediately begin recruiting to fill the post, looking first to faculty at places such as the University of Texas-Austin and Vanderbilt University, where similar research is already under way. A representative from Columbia Public Schools will likely be on the search committee.

“Our intention is to actively recruit the best person we can,” Herrington said.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average reading scores at ages 9 and 13 were higher in 2004 than in 1971. The average score for 17-year-olds in 2004 was similar to that in 1971.

Tim Lewis, an MU professor of special education and associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Education, said the university hopes to attract someone with experience who can “hit the ground running” and make the new program competitive on a national level.

Lewis added that educators are facing an increasingly diverse population of students, both socio-economically and culturally.

“I have worked in classrooms where there are 15 different languages being spoken,” Lewis said. “That creates incredible challenges for teachers.”

Lynn Barnett, assistant superintendent for Columbia Public Schools, said 43 languages are spoken among students in her school district. The diversity enriches the community and classroom but challenges teachers, who must find ways to reach each student.

Barnett agreed that learning how to read is the foundation for a good education.

“It is a huge predictor of success for the rest of their lives,” she said. The school district “would welcome any assistance and would be glad to coordinate and cooperate in any way we can.”

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