Links Between Reading problems and Dropout Rate

This article caught my eye because I, myself, had great difficulties learning to read in elementary school.  Early Reading Problems Flag Potential Dropouts in the April 20, 2011 Ed Week describes the connection between kids that are still struggling with reading in the 3rd grade and kids who drop out of high school.  Donald J. Hernandez, professor of sociology at Hunter College, analyzed the reading cores of 3,975 students born between 1979 and 1989.  He discovered that students who had trouble reading in elementary school grew up to become 88% of the students who dropped out of school.  The combination of poverty and not being able to read at grade level in 3rd grade is especially damaging:  these students are 13 times less likely to graduate on time than their reading proficient and economically stable peers.  At a meeting some years ago for Stand for Children a speaker said that the State of Oregon makes their long term plans for the state's prisons based on how many third graders do not pass the OAKS reading proficiency test.  I do know that many people who are incarcerated are not literate.  My own personal experiences as a struggling reader make me feel even more committed to doing all I can as an elementary teacher to make sure that my students learn to read.  At the Salem-Keizer Heart of Literacy Conference this year I heard a speaker say that we teach kids to read in the primary grades, so that later they can read to learn.  If I had the time and the financial means I would definitely be adding a reading endorsement on top of the MAT and ESOL endorsement.