Make reading a priority at home

Frances Lacey, North Las Vegas

Friday, June 14, 2013 | 2 a.m.

I am writing in regards to the new star rating for Clark County’s struggling schools. Statistics show 81 percent of Las Vegas high school students are not passing the Algebra I exam, and 50 percent of elementary and middle school students are not reading and writing at grade level. This is not a problem with the school. The problem lies with the lack of reading in the home.

Parents cannot expect their children to gain proficiency in reading with the little reading that is done during school hours. Reading needs to be part of home life. Parents should read to their children every night, seven nights a week, until their children start to read books by themselves, at about second grade. When children are proficient at reading, all other school subjects become easier for them because they comprehend the instruction, even Algebra I. When your child says, “I don’t like to read,” that should be the parent’s wake-up call; it is time for them to teach by doing. Reading is a leisure activity, done for pleasure, and every parent can use more of that.