eportfolio-inquiry final

8/8/2019 ePortfolio-Inquiry Final

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Susan Thomas

Dr. Jan Rieman

ENGL 1103-H05

December 6, 2010

Self Assesment: This paper was one of the hardest to write. I have always had difficulty in

writing papers that had a great deal of research in them. I tried to incorporate storytelling

because that is the most enjoyable style of writing for me. I felt this was the best paper because it

presented me with a challenge and I felt I accomplished a lot with it. Although it may not be my

best I feel as though I put the most effort in this paper so in that sense it is the best. I am still

continuing to take risks in my writing a goal that was set out from the beginning of class.

Breaking Down the Barriers to Equality: Bridging the Literacy Gap

Imagine a young girl living in a small town. She is a third grader who has a passion for

learning. Her parents socioeconomic status is low. Although there arent many books in her

household, the young girl always strives to broaden the success of her literacy. Her school

reflects the same social status that is evident in her home. It is often said that teachers at her

school are less willing to give help to the students because they understand that statistically their

students were born into a low-income and low-status family, therefore they were born to fail.

The textbooks the students use are falling apart at the seams and the library at the school the

young girl attends, as well as the libraries in her area of the city dont offer many resources for

the students either. Within the social spectrum set forth by the rules of society based on status,

wealth, and net worth, sadly, the young girl falls on the subordinate end, consequently

constricting her access to books and materials that help with the development of her reading and

writing skills.


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Now take your imagination on a journey across town. There is another young girl in the

third grade. She possesses the same fervent behavior towards her education, but in her case, she

is unknowingly placed at an advantage. Her family lives in a wealthy neighborhood and she

attends one of the best elementary schools in the county. At home and at school, she has access

to computers, which is a highly critical resource to have now in such a technical age and many

forms of print reading, such as, novels, newspapers, academic textbooks, and scholarly

magazines to help her grow in her writing and reading skills. The class sizes at her school are

smaller in comparison to those of the other young third grader across town and the teachers are

able to give individual help to the students. The materials at her school are modern and the

school board seems to show more favor to the students of her school when granting money for

supplies or when implementing programs for literacy development because the students are

deemed as high achievers as a result of their high social status. On the social spectrum in

society, this particular young girl falls on the fortunate end, with aid from her parents high-

income status, giving her access to literacy.

Many American citizens understand that this social stratification exists within the

educational system, particularly with regards to the levels of literacy, but what factors contribute

to the widening literacy gap between different social classes and how can people work together,

whether they are a direct or indirect part of the educational system, to lessen the gap and make

access to educational materials more egalitarian?

Although we live in a free-market, capitalist society, the rigidity of our social system

makes it difficult for those of a low-income status to move up to the next social class. This

economic constraint causes those affected by impoverished conditions to focus on providing just

the necessities rather than educational materials they cant afford. Closing the Gaps: A Tale of


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Two Students discusses how a childs environment can have adverse or favorable effects on that

particular childs individual level of literacy. Stephen M. Curtis, the author of the article and

president of the Community College of Philadelphia asserts, For a prospective student who is

defined by inclusion in a community in decline, however, the focus is often on survival, not on

educational refinements designed to improve an individuals economic opportunity and our

nations overall competitiveness (9). The concern of a family of low-income status is to provide

food, shelter, and clothing the basic needs for survival. They cannot afford to invest in a book

or a quality education for themselves even though literacy is the key to gaining economic success

in America and this habit of letting education take a back seat cycles within the children of these

parents who have a small income and the effects of poverty continue to hurt education and

consequently the access these children of low-income homes have to literacy. Education is not

seen as a priority for these families. Even though some children of low-income status are

determined and motivated enough to gain literacy no matter their circumstance, there is still a

recurring and monumental problem with those who do not have access to reading materials and

do not even have knowledge of where to get in contact with resources to help them gain a

competitive edge. This lack of access contributes to the widening gap between those students of

low income status and their high income status counterparts by hindering those financially

challenged students knowledge and placing limitations on what they have admittance to and

therefore what they can ultimately learn.

The lack of access to reading and writing materials is a major contributor to the literacy

gap between people of various social statuses but it is not the main contributor to the breach. The

educational system has fallen into a trap. They try to produce a cookie-cutter student. No student

has the same learning ability or comes from the same background and so there must be ways in


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which educators can reach all students, instead of focusing on those who follow the traditional

curriculum and plan. In the article Beginning Reading Instruction in Urban Schools: The

Curriculum Gap Ensures a Continuing Achievement Gap, William Teale, Kathleen Paciga and

Jessica Hoffman, educational researchers with the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP),

address what the curriculum gap is, why it exists and why it matters. They stress the importance

of realizing a teachers perspective on gaining literacy and learning and how that has an effect on

the student. Teachers often neglect the different learning abilities of their students and become

complacent with their ability to reach all and not just a few of their students. They are so

consumed with producing an exemplary student that they fail to highlight the needs of those

students who may not learn at the same pace because of what they have had access to previous to

the class. Some have the philosophy that as long as one teaches word recognition skills,

comprehension will pretty much take care of itself (Teale, Paciga, and Hoffman 346). Teachers

trying to put off the much needed comprehension until later grades are setting the students up for

failure and subsequently are contributing to the curriculum gap and assisting with the foundation

of reading problems at a young age. Students should be taught fairly early how to comprehend

texts that are more complex than what they hear on a daily basis in normal conversation and at

urban schools this problem has gotten out of hand. The children spend most of their time

working on phonics and fluency but comprehension is just as if not more important. At some

point in their education, students are forced to take a standardized test to assess their progression

through their subjects and their grade levels and in many teachers minds, [are] reinforced

instructional practices focused on a limited set of foundational literacy skills (Teale, Paciga, and

Hoffman 345). Although these tests are not complete accurate measures, they are a necessity.

When researching this topic, I found that many of these standardized tests stress comprehension


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by giving students passages and testing their ability to understand by asking multiple choice

questions in the end. If teachers at urban schools do not start stressing the formation of

comprehension skills then they will continue to see low test scores from the children. Teachers

must not assume that this comprehension will soon follow but the teachers must take

responsibility and be that link to literacy.

Another factor that contributes to the gap may not be as evident as the others and cannot

be proven by charts and statistics but still looms around. Stereotypes often encompass our

nations schools and cause the students and even teachers, administrators, and parents to conform

to pre-existing notions. They often adapt feelings of apprehension to change in the education

system because they are so accustomed to what has been considered the right way in the past.

This leads them to feel insecure and is the subject for a major contributor to the literary

disruption between social classes. The next contributor to the literacy gap is fear. Fear can be

seen in two possible ways in terms of education. There is fear that the student, often a member of

the minority race will not be accepted in their culture because they want to learn like the

dominant culture, often called assimilation or there is fear of the high-income students losing

superiority to their inferior low-income status counterparts, if the low-income students were to

gain access and grow in literacy. This first point of fear is evident in Sherman Alexies article

The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. He is a Spokane Indian who taught

himself to read. He asserts, A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed

by Indians and non-Indians alike. I fought with my classmates on a daily basis. They wanted me

to stay quiet when the non-Indian teachers asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were

Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Most lived up to those expectations in the

classroom but subverted them on the outside (447). With these age old thoughts in our head to


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remain ethnocentric and competent in our own individual cultural values, minority students, who

also predominantly account for the student body in urban schools, are destined to never grow in

thought but remain true to their specific culture. The elders in these cultures are afraid the youth

will neglect traditions and fear the demise of their culture to that of dominant culture. The second

point of fear is evident in my school system. All too often people were not willing to give up

their own access or even share what they had in order to make things more equal in education.

Parents would vote against redistricting and bringing the low-income students to schools that

catered to high-income students. The school board was fighting for equality in literacy and the

population was too wrapped up in protecting their good name In both instances of fear, the

people unknowingly contribute to the literacy gap by hindering those who want a sound

education from achieving one but it still remains a problem.

The final problem contributing to the literacy gap is the reading readiness of most

children entering elementary school. They are often not properly trained in skills needed to excel

in school. Janet Marie Lee, my aunt and a first grade teacher states, Many children come to my

class and lack good motor skills as well as comprehension of what is going on in the world. With

an ever-evolving society, these children are severely falling behind and failing in upper grades

because of sheer lack of preparation. My aunt Janet teaches in Halifax County, North Carolina.

The school she teaches at is a large elementary school full of students who come from the same

background. They have all had a poor access to literacy in their homes and during the time of

development when it is so crucial to have academic preparedness.

It is extremely evident that the curriculum gap exists and that it poses a problem for

students later on down the road, but what can be done to solve this dilemma? In an interview

where Andrea Glick inquired about the solution to the literacy gap, Susan B. Neuman, the former


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head of the Department of Education in America, was asked what she thought was the most

important thing to helping bridge that gap. She spoke much about the involvement of librarians

and the library becoming the center of the school instead of just an auxiliary. One element I felt

was crucial in the solution to closing the literacy gap was the role that the librarian had to play.

Neuman states, we did subsequent studies on excellent librarians, and we found that in low-

income areas, they often had to extend what they viewed as their job roles (3). If every educator

and librarian could take this view and help beyond their job descriptions then those students who

fall behind will have the ability to catch up and gain the help they need. Not only will they focus

on helping the children pick out appropriate books for their reading level but they can also read

to children in an interactive and engaging way in hopes that they will gain a better understanding

of what theyre reading and that will help their reading levels to increase subsequently decrease

the literacy gap.

Another way to help solve the problem is to involve those in higher education. Stephen

M. Curtis argues that we in higher education must exert far more aggressive leadership. It will

take the unified effort of elected officials, business leaders, community leaders, educators, and

family members to insist that the elimination of the literacy skills gap be a top priority for all of

our communities (9). In this country, its hard to succeed without a college degree and so the

youth look up to those who have obtained those degrees or at least attempted to further their

education. These people should serve as role models to the children and encourage them to learn

beyond what is required of them.

One particular way in solving the problem of the literacy gap between different social

classes is to involve the people who have one of the greatest impacts on the lives of students

teachers. The teachers should meet students at their individual level of need. There should be


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more programs implemented throughout the nation that follow the guideline of a curriculum

entitled Teach for America. The founder of the program, Wendy Kopp, a Princeton University

graduate tries to eliminate educational inequity which starts at an early age, gets worse over time,

prevents children from fulfilling their potential, and undermines our nations economic strength.

Too many children in low-income communities are trapped in a cycle of poverty and educational

inequity and the goal of Teach for America is to provide those students with resources to help

them achieve. The program provides for well-trained teachers to teach for two years in urban and

rural area who work arduously to go above and beyond the traditional expectations to make sure

that those students reach their highest potential. They not only work to improve the schools in

low-income areas but they are also trying to build success within the policies and investments

within these communities. Through Teach for America, the instructors try to maintain the rise in

student achievement. These teachers are often seen as more effective than other teachers because

of the connection they make with the students. (Teach for America) I feel that overall the morale

of the nation must change in regards to education. Yes, it is equally important to make sure that

those particular students who have a high socio-economic status are adhered to but that does not

mean we as a nation should neglect those of low-income. These students need special attention

because they lack resources and so often come into school with a poor educational foundation.

This goes unnoticed and abandoned and the student often does not begin to get help until their

middle and high school years, when it is often too late and too difficult to make a change. Now

that we have an understanding of what hinders the students, we can work together to make a fair

education system that doesnt discriminate because of the environment in which you grew up in.

We must first understand what factors contribute to the literacy gap before we can

effectively analyze the problem and work towards eliminating the gap. Children already face


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adversity for coming from a family of low-income status but that stress should be eradicated

once they come to school. Why should they be reminded of what they lack instead of being

reassured that they can have the same access to literacy?

Works Cited

Curtis, Stephen. Closing the Gaps: A Tale of Two Students. Presidency. January 2,

2009: 12.8-10. MA. ERIC database. Web. 5 Oct 2010

Glick, Andrea. A Friend at the Top. School Library Journal47.12(2001): 52. ERIC

Database. Web. 5 Oct 2010

Teale, William H., Kathleen A. Paciga, and Jessica L. Hoffman. Beginning Reading

Instruction in Urban Schools: The Curriculum Gap Ensures a Continuing

Achievement Gap.Reading Teacher61.4 (2007): 344-348.ERIC database.Web.

5 Oct2010.

Alexie, Sherman. The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me. Writing About


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Writing: A College Reader. Eds Doug Downs and Elizabeth Wardle. Boston:

Bedford/St.Martins, 2011. 445-448. Print.

Teach for America. Teach for America, 1996-2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010.

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