Improving Literacy for Baltimore Youth

March 2021

Youth Literacy: Connecting & Reflecting

In Baltimore, too many young people start school already behind, and then struggle to catch up to where they need to be to succeed—especially when it comes to literacy:

84% of Baltimore City Public Schools students enter high school reading below the 9^th-grade level

This deficit, often exacerbated by life circumstances and reading material that students don’t connect to, then becomes a barrier not only to getting through school, but to success in work, college and life.

The reading challenges of Baltimore students spurred the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet to make increasing youth literacy a priority focus area for its work. It’s a focus driven by knowing that this work requires all of us. And it starts with us listening to our youth.

In this newsletter we share what young people have to say about literacy, a window into the work happening to increase youth literacy and ways you can champion youth literacy at home and in your community.

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Rise Up and Read

Youth literacy was front and center at the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet monthly town hall on March 24, with both adult and youth panels spotlighting the literacy challenges Baltimore youth face—and the resources, partnerships and opportunities at work to address those challenges. If you missed the live event, you can watch a recording here.

We reviewed literacy data and school literacy strategies and the cabinet’s 2021 actions to increase youth literacy. And for that we thank Children’s Cabinet youth literacy workgroup members Julia Baez, Executive Director of Baltimore’s Promise; Tina Hike-Hubbard, Chief of Communications, Engagement and Enrollment at Baltimore City Public Schools; and Alexandria Warrick-Adams, Executive Director of Elev8 Baltimore.

And then we listened to youth—and learned.

“We should understand that some students don't have that space and environment to really elevate their academic level. We need to understand that because of the situation, people—especially youth—are not able to reach where they can and what they're capable of.” — Kelsey Bista With a community of support in the Youth Opportunity and Elev8 programs, Kelsey is on track to get her GED

“We are diamonds in the rough. We can’t judge people on where they’re at and say that this is all that they can do. When you work to get the potential out of somebody…you find where they can soar.” — Omani Placide Baltimore City College and the Grads2Careers program helped Omani begin a career in biotechnology

“It's more than just teaching a student how to read—you want to build a relationship so that the student can feel compelled to learn. If I have a teacher who I feel doesn’t care about me, why will I want to listen to them? I feel like the teacher-student relationship has to improve first… If that first level of need hasn’t been met yet, how can we continue on to the next level?” — Diamond Spruill Baltimore City College and the Grads2Careers program set Diamond up for career success in healthcare

“Listen to the youth, include the youth in the conversations about literacy because they're the ones who have to experience it. The teachers teach it, but the youth have to endure it, the youth have to do it, and the youth have to learn it. The teachers already learned their literacy, their time is over. Now it’s our time. Now this is about us and what works for us.” — Sydney Johnson HeartSmiles youth partner and literacy advocate...read more from Sydney Thank you, Kelsey, Omani, Diamond and Sydney for educating us on how we can best support literacy for Baltimore's young people! ________________________

Baltimore Children’s Cabinet: 2 Key Youth Literacy Actions

The reading challenges of Baltimore students spurred the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet to make increasing youth literacy one of its priorities. And understanding the roots of those challenges and the wide-ranging needs of Baltimore youth has spurred the cabinet’s literacy workgroup to advance two key initiatives to increase youth literacy levels, both focused on older youth.

Read more about the cabinet’s literacy work, and initiatives spanning its six other priority areas, in the Children’s Cabinet 2021 Action Plan.

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Sydney: Spreading Literacy by Tapping into Passion Sydney Johnson is 15, a 10th-grade student at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and loves books. But she knows a lot of her peers don’t share her passion—or her facility for reading. So finding ways to connect more Baltimore youth to reading has become a secondary passion for Sydney. In fact, it’s a challenge that she tackles within her own family with a little sister who’s sometimes more interested in playing a video game than reading a book. “She loves to sing so if I get her a book about a popular singer like Beyoncé then she might say, ‘Oh, my God. I never knew that!’ and it will make her want to read more because that's what she's interested in and that's what she loves. That's how I can make her a reader. It’s a slippery slope: Once she reads one good book, she’ll start looking for another one.” She says the problem is not that young people don’t appreciate reading, it’s just that they haven’t been given opportunities to discover and read material that they’re interested in. “It has to be relevant to them. Youth love options. But if you force everyone to read the same thing, one person might not be able to appreciate Shakespeare, but another person might love Shakespeare. Everybody comes from different cultural backgrounds, everybody comes from different households and has been through different things. So that means they're interested in different things. Once you give youth options that appeal to their interest, that will make them want to read more. “This is the new generation with new things going on around us and with new cultural approaches. So I just want to say, please, please listen and take our considerations into account and have youth sit at the table when making decisions about their future.”

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City Schools’ Literacy Focus We thank our close partner in this work, City Schools, for leading Baltimore’s youth literacy effort. Core to City Schools’ Blueprint for Success, literacy is a key focal point for the district. Here’s what that means in practice—the district is: incorporating more relatable texts for elementary- and middle-grade students tasking an African-American literature team to diversify English Language Arts (ELA) book options making self-paced lessons available to students connecting students to peer support through a Youth Ambassadors Program Read more about City Schools’ focus on literacy, leadership and student wholeness in the Blueprint for Success. ________________________

Looking for a summer learning opportunity for elementary or middle-school students? Elev8 Baltimore is accepting applications for the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School—a free, six-week summer literacy program with locations across the city. Elev8 Baltimore is also accepting applications for the South Baltimore Adult High School (SBAHS) for adults over 21 who want to earn their high school diploma. For more information about both programs, visit elev8baltimore.org or email info@elev8baltimore.org.

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Pratt Library Re-Opening

We’re excited to share that all Enoch Pratt Free Library branches are once again open for in-person visits! Locations are open at 25% capacity, on a first-come-first-served basis. People can browse and borrow books, access public computers for up two hours and use copier and fax machines, where available. Find out more here.

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In case you missed it…

In March, Baltimore Children’s Cabinet Chair and Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success Executive Director Tisha Edwards and cabinet workgroup members presented the Children’s Cabinet 2021 Action Plan to the Baltimore City Council’s Education, Workforce and Youth Committee. Watch it here.

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