September 7, 2011
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Parent’s Your Child’s Future is in Your Hands
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by
R on H erndon
Parents, your
love and advo­
cacy foryour chil­
dren will deter­
mine if they re­
ceive an educa­
tion that enables
them to graduate
from college. Yes, from the moment
your child enters pre-school, they
should be convinced college gradu­
ation is their academic goal.
Only you can prevent your child
from becoming one of these num­
bers: Consider the Children’s De­
fense Fund's State of America’s
Children 2011 report: Most children
and 79 percent or more of black and
Hispanic children in public schools
cannot read or do math at grade
level in the fourth, eighth or 12th
grades.
Volumes of research indicate that
if a child is reading at grade level in
the third grade (8-years-old) they
have a very good chance of gradu­
ating from high school. Failing to
meet these standards is a tragic ex­
ample of why parents must be full­
time advocates for their children
and prevent them from being
crushed by educational failures.
Consider more dismal numbers
for Portland Public Schools: Just 21
Each o f these Albina Head Start students put on the colors and emblems o f colleges and universi­
ties to send the message that preparing for a college education should begin in pre-school.
percent of Hispanic, 17 percent of
black and 60 percent of white stu­
dents exceed OAKS reading stan­
dards in the third grade. By the 10th
grade, just 37 percent of Hispanic,
30 percent of black, and 63 percent
of white students are on track to
graduate. By the senior year in high
school, just 4 percent of black stu­
dents, 4 percent of Hispanic stu­
dents and 36 percent of white stu­
dents meet ACT college level bench­
marks. These are the numbers.
Where does this lead? The PEW
Whole Library goes Mobile
Free app connects smartphone users
Multnomah County Library's search the catalog for books, mov­
new, free mobile application makes ies and music; place and cancel
it possible for library cardholders to holds; renew items; and check their
use their library from almost any accounts. They can also access li­
sm artphone or Internet-enabled brarians directly by chat, text or
mobile device.
phone; select e-books, audiobooks
With the app, library patrons can and music for download; find the
Research Center reports that the
median wealth of white U.S. house­
holds in 2009 was $113,149, com­
pared with $6,325 for Hispanics and
$5,677 for blacks. About 35 percent
of black households and 31 percent
of Hispanic households had zero or
negative net worth in 2009.
Parents, here’s some tips to avoid
this hellishly, abysmal future for
your children:
Before your child enters kinder­
garten, read to them every day and
make sure they can write their name,
nearest library; connect via social
media; and more.
Compatible with nearly all popu­
lar mobile phone platforms, the app
is available from the library website,
the iPhone App Store and Android
Market.
Funding for mobile app service
was provided through financial
assistance from The Library Foun­
dation.
know and recognize the alphabet,
and count and recognize numbers
from at least one through 30. Help
your child read simple four and five
word sentences. Teach them primary
colors and the basic shapes; circle,
square, pyramid and rectangle.
If your child is using bad words
(cussin’), purposely beating up/
hurting other children, or being dis­
respectful to adults, you must stop
this behavior now. If you don’t, this
behavior in public schools can be­
come a one way ticket to special
The library created the app as a
first step in a com prehensive m o­
bile strategy to meet library pa­
trons at their points o f need, and
beyond the walls o f the library.
W ith the exponential growth in
sm artphone use nationally and lo­
cally, the mobile app will help meet
this key patron demand.
“This app helps us continue to
provide the best, most relevant
education.
For children in the 1st through
8th grades, let p rin cip als and
teachers know the goal for your
child is college graduation; every
class and subject should lead to
that goal. Ask principals and
teachers when or if y o u rch ild will
meet local and state standards in
reading, math, science and all other
core subjects. Get that inform a­
tion in writing.
Ask teachers how much they
expect yourchild to gain each grad­
ing period in reading, math, science
and all other subjects. Get that
information in writing. Make sure
your child is enrolled in a foreign
language while in primary school;
Mandarin (Chinese language) if
possible.
Make sure your child has home­
work every day that is related to
classwork. Your child must have a
quiet place to study at home; no TV,
video games, internet, Facebook,
text messaging or radio while study­
ing.
Parents, this gets us started and
you can doit! Ifyou don't do this for
your child, no one else will. Your
child' s future is in your hands. Your
child must not become one o f the
numbers. More next week.
Ron Herndon is a long-time ad­
vocate fo r educational opportuni-
t i esfo r A fdean -A meric an ch i Idren.
He has served a director o f Head
Start in Portland since 1975.
service to M ultnomah County Li­
brary patrons,” said D irector of
Libraries Vailey Oehlke. “Putting
popular and essential library func­
tions in the hands o f cardholders
makes using the library faster,
more convenient, and anticipates
a connected world where mobile
devices will be a prim ary access
point for library experience, con­
tent and services.”
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