OREM, Utah — The saying goes “The more you read, the more you know”.
But learning to read isn’t always accessible to everyone.
A Utah Valley University film professor and the director of the documentary, “The Right to Read” Jenny Mackenzie, wanted to spotlight that very issue.
“Literacy is personal for me. I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 14 years old, but I got really lucky. I had a mom who was able to figure out what was going on with me and gave me the resources that I needed to support me to become a really strong reader, and until making this film, it really wasn’t clear to me that so many other kids who are diagnosed with learning disabilities, or have challenges really don’t have access to that kind of support and those kinds of resources,” says Mackenzie.
That lack of access and resources is a flagship focus of the film.
How do you teach kids to read and are we doing it right?
Why does childhood illiteracy seem to affect some demographics more than others?
“The Right to Read” explores it all, following the journey of a first-grade teacher, an activist and two families with struggling, but improving readers.
The film’s executive producer was Levar Burton, actor and long-time childhood literacy advocate.
“The students across the country have been given tools that is not allowing them to succeed, and to learn how to read,” says Mackenzie. “Reading is something where we know the research, we have the evidence and there is a very explicit formula and ways in which children need to learn to read.”
And the issue is compound.
According to the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Study on Student Achievement in Literacy, 37 percent of America’s children were reading below the “basic” level, a statistic that includes students of all racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
A deeper look at the numbers shows 56 percent of Black fourth graders, 50 percent of Hispanic fourth graders and 57 percent of American Indian fourth graders are reading below the basic level.
By the NAEP’s definition, below basic means a student cannot read.
That study also found that 70 percent of fourth graders with disabilities are reading below basic levels.
52 percent of fourth graders eligible for free and reduced-price lunch are reading below basic levels.
“The biggest challenge is there’s a resource gap,” says Mackenzie. “If you find families like mine when I was growing up and diagnosed with dyslexia and others, if kids are struggling, their parents give them a tutor. Their parents sign them up for resources that are outside of school that they have to pay for, so this is really how we sort of see the growing disparity gap.”
“There are so many moments behind the camera as we were filming that really just make you tear up because kids want to succeed. They want to feel those high moments where they get it and sort of that light bulb goes on and they are excited because they have blended letters and they have figured out those phonics. It’s a joyous experience to see those moments.”
Mackenzie says the solution to the childhood illiteracy crisis begins with policy and legislation, but the policy is only as good as the accountability and the implementation of that policy.
The film has its own discussion guides for viewers, educators and policymakers as a launching point for conversations focused on improving early childhood literacy.
Conversations that will hopefully create change.
“I make films because I think they’re important topics and I hope that there will be a ripple effect and it will impact communities positively,” says Mackenzie.
