The Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF) raised more than $60,000 at its recent Love of Literacy Luncheon held to highlight the need for support for students struggling with reading in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
Funds raised at the gathering in Elings Park’s Godric Grove will help train Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) teachers in methods to more effectively work with emergent multilingual learners and students with learning differences, including those displaying characteristics of dyslexia.
The event featured speakers who highlighted why literacy is critical for later life success and positive health outcomes.
“Reading is more than a way to learn. It is also a way to be happy. It is also a way to grow as an individual, and it is a door that opens in your life and will never be closed afterward. And I feel that every child in this region deserves to have that ability as a human right,” said publisher and arts advocate Sara Miller McCune.
In addition to sharing her own difficulties with reading as a young student in an ESL (English as a Second Language) program, California State Sen. Monique Limón supported the need to help struggling readers with hard facts.
“If you were a student who was eligible for the national school lunch program, you scored an average of 31 points lower than those who were not eligible,” Limón said. “What we are seeing here is that there are structures that make it very difficult for student populations who already struggle in other areas.
“And to me, it is very important that we try to find a way to help our communities and our students be sure that they can read by the third grade.”
SBUSD Superintendent Hilda Maldonado led guests in an activity to help them experience what it is like for a student who cannot use context to understand what they are reading.
Students fall behind in developing reading skills for many reasons, including learning disabilities, dyslexia, or they are still learning English as a second language, Maldonado said.
“And so that is the spectrum of learners that we need to look at when we think about professional development,” she said. “That’s the kind of investment we need to make in how our teachers are given the skill sets that they need in order to teach.”
In a commitment to supporting SBUSD’s struggling readers, the Santa Barbara Education Foundation is continuing to fundraise for an additional $40,000 to implement this essential literacy professional development project.
SBEF thanks Love of Literacy Luncheon sponsors Pillar Sponsors: Sage Publishing and Montecito Bank & Trust; Ambassador Sponsors: Chevron, KBZ Architects, Lazy Acres, Mechanics Bank, and Tisha Ford; Champion Sponsors: 19six Architects, Arroyo Seco, First 5 Santa Barbara County, Montecito Journal, Santa Barbara City College Foundation, and Mark Watson Professional Fiduciary; with additional support provided by Griffin & Thornburgh, San Marcos High School Culinary Arts Program, and Tecolote Book Shop.
SBEF promotes private support of Santa Barbara’s public education system, serving some 13,000 students in 19 schools. For more, visit www.santabarbaraeducation.org.