South Orangetown Central School District

I recently received inquiries about a comment that I made to a reporter about the relationship between the volume of books in the home and student literacy. There have been several studies that correlate children’s initial reading competence with the home environment, including the number of books owned. According to the American Psychological Association, in a nationwide study of American kindergarten children, 36% of parents in the lowest-income quintile read to their children on a daily basis, compared with 62% of parents from the highest-income quintile.

Most recently, the International Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducted a study of families whose students took the 2006 and 2009 PISA exams. These are the tests that are used to rank countries according to their educational performance.

The OECD study revealed – to no surprise – that the fifteen-year-olds who performed well on these assessments lived in homes in which parents read to them before they attended school and in their early years of education. The questions also assessed the extent to which parents read to their children and revealed that the greater the frequency, the higher the performance on the assessment.

Okay, so what’s the point? My home recycling bin is brimming with flyers and ads for the annual Black Friday shopping event. Radio and TV ads are promoting midnight madness opportunities for shoppers. Thanksgiving and Black Friday unofficially mark both the “season of giving and consuming.” Yet, whatever opinion we have about these events, for many the season serves as a time of reflection that is often accompanied by a burst of philanthropic enthusiasm. So in that spirit, I present an idea.

Gift or donate a book – even if it is not on anyone’s “list”. Recycle that dust-collecting library of children’s books that you have in your basement or attic by passing on the books to young children. Spread the word about the impact of home reading. Have older siblings read to younger ones. Pick up a book and read in front of your children or grandchildren. If we want to celebrate the spirit of giving, let’s do so with a gift of literacy. This might just be the gift that will yield benefits long after it has been given.

Happy Thanksgiving!