Many people assume that print materials are available to all with equal convenience through public libraries and inexpensive newspapers, but Neuman & Celano (2001) seek to challenge that myth, examining the effect of resource accessibility as an explanation for gaps in student achievement. Their study illuminates the dissimilarity of resources available among neighborhoods in one metropolitan area. “Low-income households, single parents, and poorly educated mothers essentially add up to large estimations of risk for school failure” (Neuman & Celano, 2001, p. 8). While many educators play the blame game believing that background is the cause for student failure, just as Leslie & Allen (1999) cite Adams (1990) stating that “Many at-risk children have significantly fewer opportunities to engage in meaningful literacy-related experiences and are less likely to develop automatic decoding skills” (p. 404). Warranted or not, identifying the cause does not provide the cure. Research in literacy inequalities among students can be categorized into three factors: socio-economic class, attitudes toward reading, and reading skills, as well as combinations of these.
Socio-economic class not only affects the resources available in the home, but also, as discovered by Neuman & Celano (2001), affects the resources which can be found in the neighborhood. Many charge a difference in attitude toward schools and education, but Neuman & Celano (2001) cite Lareau’s (1989) finding “in a study of parent involvement [which] found that despite similar educational goals for their children, parents in lower and middle-class communities differed widely in the skills and resources they had at their disposal for upgrading children’s school performance” (p. 8).
“[I]ncome and attitude may influence students’ reading preferences” (Anderson, Higgins, & Wurster, 1985; Worthy, 1996, as cited in Worthy, Moorman & Turner, 1999, p. 13). What is often attributed to indifference, may simply be a lack of knowledge on the part of parents in how to communicate in educational settings or assist in students’ educational efforts. Families of lesser economic means may believe that education and reading are important, but they have little contact with school. We must build community involvement if all children are expected to achieve literacy (Neuman & Celano, 2001). By sending newspapers with parent-involved assignments into the home, this study hopes to establish a literacy connection with parents.
Also, the distribution of newspapers will provide more reading practice. As with all skills, practice is required for improvement. Leslie and Allen (1999) suggest that recreational reading can serve as practice. The more students are exposed to print, “the more likely they are to develop fluency, build a vocabulary base, and gain knowledge” (Leslie & Allen, 1999,
p. 414). “If [students] don’t read, they are less likely to develop automaticity, vocabulary, and concepts about the world as well as intrinsic motivation to read. This downward spiraling of reading achievement has been proposed as a major determinant of school failure” (Stanovich, 1986 as cited in Leslie & Allen, 1999, p. 404).
Fischer (1999-2000) suggests that reading difficulties of adolescents are hard to overcome. Citing Torgeson (1998), Fischer includes, “The consequences of a slow start in reading become monumental as they accumulate exponentially over time” (1999-2000, p. 326). Most large scale intervention strategies are targeted at younger populations, yet there are students who reach middle school classrooms as weak readers. “A number of youth continue to struggle with basic processes of reading and writing beyond the third grade and require continued support in decoding, comprehending, and making meaning of the various texts they encounter in school and in their lives” (Hiebert & Taylor, in press, as cited in Moje & Young, 2000, p. 400).
One method of support is allowing students to read a variety of materials, materials with lesser difficulty, and material with choice (Ivey, 1999). Newspapers are an inexpensive way to provide wider variety, lower readability levels and student choice. Worthy, Moorman & Turner (1999) cited Mellon’s (1990) study reporting that 7th to 12th graders preferred newspapers and magazines above all other reading material. At the same time, students have exhibited declining interest in reading newspapers, with “readership of broadsheet newspapers . . . in steep decline among this age group” (Buckingham, 1999, p. 171).
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