“Our Children Need to Learn How to Read” The NAACP’s Demand for Better Literacy Practices and the Coalition Behind it

If you can’t read, your life in Oakland is likely to be nasty, brutish and short.  And while we hear a lot of speeches, we haven’t seen changes in outcomes.  Thankfully, there are folks taking action, like our Oakland NAACP, with concrete solutions, and a coalition behind them.  Join us tonight for the  NAACP and OUSD Town Hall: K-5 Literacy and the NAACP Petition if you want to hear more.

You can hear more from the NAACP and partners here.

Check out the coalition behind this effort, Black, Brown, API, White, special educators, colleges of education and more.

  • The Latino Education Network
  • The Ikuna Group
  • State of Black Education – Oakland
  • Decoding Dyslexia – California
  • Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children
  • Oakland Literacy Coalition
  • Equity Allies for OUSD
  • Holy Names University School of Education
  • Holy Names University Educational Therapy Program
  • Mills College, School of Education
  • Public Health Justice Collective
  • Anne E. Cunningham, Professor Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley
  • Michael C. Lu, Dean of the School of Public Health, UC Berkeley
  • Harry Snyder, Lecturer at the School of Public Health, UC Berkeley

And you can see the press release here

I have spoken before about the numbers from EdSource, 18.6% of Black kids read on grade level, 23.8% of Latinx kids can read and 72.5% of White kids can.  Something has to change.  Please join us tonight to push for real changes in the way our children are taught, and that will lead to better outcomes.

The Town Hall will:
1. Clarify the 8 points in the petition to improve reading achievement
2. Clarify the curricular options to improve reading achievement
3. Establish community priorities regarding reading
4. Elevate the experiences of teachers in improving reading achievement
5. Identify the pathway to unity and buy-in for improving reading achievement
6. Have the opportunity to ask and answer related questions

What do you think?

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