Fort Worth panel: Why reading is a civil right, and why it’s time for literacy reform

More than 250 community members gathered at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden on Oct. 8 to hear discussion on the value and importance of literacy, and whether it should be considered a civil right as the city grapples with its reading problem.

The free event, consisting of a keynote address and panel discussion, came forward against the backdrop of sobering statistics: Almost 60% of third- through eighth-graders in Fort Worth public schools did not meet grade level in reading this year, according to the Fort Worth Education Partnership. The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, results also showed just 33% of third-graders reading at grade level in the Fort Worth Independent School District this year.

The issue of Fort Worth-area students being unable to read at grade level has been lingering for years. A sense of urgency behind fixing this issue and improving academic performance has been renewed recently as Fort Worth ISD faces scrutiny on its state test scores lagging behind comparable urban districts such as Dallas ISD. The pressure placed on the district to turn around this trend started with a letter from Mayor Mattie Parker — and 45 other community leaders — to school board members in August, calling the academic state of the district “unacceptable” while pushing for a “bold, unified approach” where Fort Worth ISD can “become the district of choice for families.” Parker was among the panelists at the Oct. 8 event.

The event overlapped with the Fort Worth ISD school board’s appointment of an interim superintendent . Karen Molinar takes over as the district leader after Angélica Ramsey stepped down about a month after Mayor Parker’s letter was sent to officials. Ramsey’s resignation was effective Oct. 1.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab was among the multiple community organizations that sponsored the “Is Reading a Civil Right?” event, which included the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth Education Partnership, Fort Worth Forum, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, Go Beyond Grades, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Texas A&M University School of Law and United Way of Tarrant County.

Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, director of the Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law, began her keynote address by describing literacy as a key that unlocks student engagement “in democracy, our economy and our society.” In contrast, she described illiteracy as an “enduring disability” that, for example, creates a barrier for someone to fill out health care forms, apply for a driver’s license and understand ballot measures.

Robinson spoke about how civil rights provide protections from discrimination, and also provide “affirmative rights” that give people access to what they need to be part of society, which includes literacy, she said. She mentioned the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, which determined segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. The case, she said, embraced the legal concept of equal educational opportunity, which is still being sought after today.

“Even though we began to get children to learn together, we did not fully secure the full meaning of equal educational opportunities,” she said. “No, we don’t still have legally segregated schools. I’m not saying we’ve overturned Brown, but what I am saying is we never fully fulfilled the promise of equal educational opportunity that’s at the heart of Brown vs. Board of Education.”

The quality of a student’s education is based on the state they live in, as there is no federal right to education, she said. But a difference can also be made at the local level by “developing the architecture to support delivering high-quality education to students” through various laws, policies and procedures.

“If Fort Worth is ready to make education a civil right, then you embrace literacy as your highest priority. Then you drive the resources, policies, information, parent meetings, all of that around that focus, and you build a better Fort Worth. That is how you make the dream of equal educational opportunity a reality for your students,” she said. “You are not free, if you are not literate. Period.”

The panel discussion addressed questions about how the current state of Fort Worth literacy came to be, the gaps between report cards and a child’s true academic performance, and what the community should be looking for in Fort Worth ISD’s next superintendent. It included Robinson, Parker, Trenace Dorsey-Hollins of Parent Shield Fort Worth and Brent Beasley of the Fort Worth Education Partnership.

When moderator Bob Ray Sanders — communications director of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce and a former Star-Telegram columnist and associate editor — asked about the first topic, Robinson noted how there was a lack of a nationwide commitment to serve all students, but it can be changed the same way that legal segregation was. Beasley shared statistics of literacy issues across the community.

“The Fort Worth ISD portion, which is more the central part of the city, it’s 31% of students reading at grade level. The Lake Worth ISD, which is the northwest part of the city and the county — 21%,” he said, adding that 40% of Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD students and 54% of Keller ISD students are meeting this metric. “It’s something that goes across the system, but of course, some are more disproportionately affected.”

Beasley also mentioned a school in Fort Worth where 6% of the kids are reading on grade level. Dorsey-Hollins said it was located in her neighborhood.

Later on in the discussion, in response to a question about how the city of Fort Worth is growing its partnerships around literacy, Parker brought up that “the role I have chosen to play alongside the community in the last few weeks is important,” adding it would be “politically smart” of her to bury her head in the sand in regard to education. Sanders asked her why she decided to put pressure on the school district and its leadership in recent weeks.

“For years, we acted like junior high girls. We all talked behind each other’s back. We all made whispers, but no one was willing to publicly say what we were all saying behind each other’s backs. That’s not maturity, and it’s not leadership,” she answered, adding that she pulled two of her children out of the school district “for different reasons” and acknowledged how not everyone has the resources to do that.

Another question regarding the desired qualities in the next Fort Worth ISD superintendent was answered by Dorsey-Hollins, who reiterated the demands released by Parent Shield Fort Worth just before former superintendent Ramsey’s resignation. They focus on someone who will move the needle in academic performance, especially for Black students, having all students reading on grade level by third grade and providing transparent data to parents. She also called for philanthropy leaders to fund intervention for students who are behind grade level.

“If our children are two and three years behind, and teachers are just focusing on tier one (instruction), they’re never going to catch up,” Dorsey-Hollins said, referring to the core curriculum all students receive. “We had an intervention program at the Boys & Girls Club for three months. In those three months, 97% of our children were able to grow at least one grade year in reading. If the schools have our children for nine months, y’all do the math. They can grow.”