Literacy

That tens of thousands of high school students are receiving diplomas sans skills unfortunately comes as little surprise to adult literacy providers ("Receiving diplomas without skills," Jan. 17). Our agencies are the safety net for the students whose lack of skills augurs a bleak economic future because they will not meet the entry requirements for postsecondary education, specialized training programs or jobs. According to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE)

Teachers from across the state gathered Wednesday for a meeting of the minds. They met at Pennsauken High School for the annual Fall Conference sponsored by The West Jersey Reading Council, a local chapter of the International Reading Association. More than 470 teachers chose from about 25 workshops dedicated to promoting reading and writing in their classrooms. Betty Jane Moulton, a special education literacy resource coach from the Hamilton Township School District, attended the conference this year for the second time.

Steve Gimbel teaches philosophy at Gettysburg College Don Herbert, who passed away last week from cancer, was better known to generations as Mr. Wizard. The irony is that he was nothing like a wizard. He did not stand apart as a purveyor of secret magic, a power over which he alone had command which inspired awe. No, Mr. Wizard's gift was bringing science to all of us. Mr. Wizard would present an interesting situation and provide room for us to think along as he guided us to an understanding of the world we live in. His demonstrations grabbed our attention, but he always left us appreciating the universe as a well-organized place.

Saying, "We have to deliver," the state's top education official pledged to the Camden school board last night a plan to refocus education in the district after a tumultuous school year marked by the superintendent's resignation and state criminal and test-cheating probes. Acting Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy and her chief of staff, Penelope Lattimer, said in a rare appearance that they would form a new team to focus on literacy and math during the next three years and to help coach teachers.

America has become a "choice" society. Consumers increasingly have to decipher and choose from a throng of competing credit-card offers, 401(k) plans, HMO benefits and the like. But even college graduates may lack the basic skills to make good decisions. The nonprofit American Institutes for Research (AIR) has found a distressing literacy gap among graduating seniors. Surveying 1,827 students at 80 two- and four-year schools in 2003, researchers discovered that only a fraction could handle the most complex tasks, such as comparing interest-rate offers.

Susan Lee, formerly of South Korea, told the others in her advanced English as a second language class about a great clearance sale at a local store. Instructor Regina Hunter asked the students what they would they do if there was a problem with an item they bought. As the lively discussion continued among the women of Asian, Polish and Mexican descent, Hunter jotted new vocabulary words on the board. And so it went during a recent class at the Delaware County Literacy Council, where the majority of clients at this nonprofit agency are no longer native speakers, but those seeking to learn English.

Come September 2007, a charter school is to open in a wealthy community whose hallmark is its excellent school system. The TLC Charter School, slated for Cherry Hill's west side, has received formal state approval to become the first in the township and a rarity in the region: a suburban charter. TLC will focus on literacy instruction, parental involvement, and the use of the arts and small classes to help students achieve, said cofounder Harriet Beckerman, a retired Cherry Hill public school principal.

I always wanted to be a principal, and recently I came close. Participating in Greater Philadelphia Cares' Principal for a Day program, I shadowed Bettie Kleckley, principal of the Ellwood School in the Oak Lane section of Philadelphia. Ellwood was rebuilt in 1956 from the small early-20th-century schoolhouse I remembered. The "new" building is bright and clean with artwork by some of its 470 kids on the halls. Every teacher I met, and I met all of them, privately told me how nice it is to work at Ellwood and how much he or she liked the new principal.

Nooria Ibrahim and Carmen Alvarado didn't speak English when they took their first tentative steps into the Family Literacy Program in Bensalem. Now, Ibrahim, 27, who was born in Afghanistan, plans to take the GED test and attend college. Alvarado, 39, a native of Mexico, recently got a job as a housecleaner. "The teachers worked hard with us to speak and read and write. It was a lot of work for me," said Ibrahim, who started classes when the program began in 2000. "Three years ago, before I came to this class, I always needed my husband's help," Alvarado said.

Gina D has a thing for dinosaurs. She uses them in her television show for preschoolers, Gina D's Kids Club, and wrote a book about them. What better setting, then, for a Philadelphia visit than the Academy of Natural Sciences, home to so many prehistoric creatures? Gina D will bring her Reading Across America program to the museum for two performances. The entertainer, whose weekly show is seen Fridays on WYBE, will read her new book, Hammy Learns About Dinosaurs, as part of her national literacy initiative to remind parents and caregivers about the importance of reading to young people and taking them to libraries.