http://cars4jax.com
http://jaxjobs.com
Morning Show
Morning Show
http://jax4kids.com
Homepage > Education
E-Mail News Alerts
Get breaking news and daily headlines.
Browse all e-mail newsletters

Using Literacy To Fight Juvenile Crime

POSTED: 3:27 pm EST March 22, 2004

When Judge Karen Cole was assigned to the felony bench, she became keenly aware of the limited literacy skills of the young defendants who appeared before her.

ReadingMinds graphic
She learned that 85 percent of all young defendants nationwide have reading difficulties, and at least 40 percent of those defendants who should be in high school read below a fourth-grade level.

Cole realized that many juvenile offenders had no hope of earning a GED or of completing high school upon release if they could not read grade-level material, which explains why so many are repeat offenders and ultimately end up in adult prison.

Cole's research into court-based literacy programs led her to Judge James Milliken, then chief judge of the San Diego Juvenile Court, who had instituted a remarkably successful reading program for incarcerated youth.

Milliken's program, where students made gains of at least two grade levels in reading in just 12 weeks, was modeled after a school district in Pueblo, Colo., which had made dramatic gains in reading scores using intensive, research-based instruction.

Pueblo students went from being among the poorest readers in the state to outperforming the state average by as much as 10 points in just five years. Pueblo schools have won White House recognition for their achievements

ColeCole (pictured, left) led a Jacksonville delegation that included State Attorney Harry Shorstein and two members of the Duval County School Board to visit the Pueblo schools to learn how the program worked and study how they may be able to reproduce its success in Jacksonville.

Shorstein, who is nationally recognized for his juvenile crime-fighting efforts, calls the reading initiative "an unparalleled opportunity...to make the most fiscally conservative, ethical and moral reform to the future of our community -- teaching children to read."

"Reading Minds" was funded in part by the City of Jacksonville and the Wayne and Patricia Hogan Foundation.

Contributing sponsors were the W.C. and Susan Gentry Foundation and Russell B. Newton Jr., a member of the Alliance for World Class Education. The Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership, Inc., is also providing assistance.

"Reading Minds" is the second production of Gianoulis' documentary company, TV Verité, which creates community-oriented programming for WJXT. The company's first production, "One Mind at a Time," earned a Suncoast Emmy Award.

The company is headed by Deborah Gianoulis, best known for her 25 years as co-anchor of Channel 4's Eyewitness News at 6 p.m.

In 2000, Gianoulis earned the distinguished Peabody Award for producing "Behind Closed Doors," a documentary on domestic violence.

She retired from the anchor desk last May to create documentaries on issues of local and national concern.

Links We Like
Sponsored Content
Understand the signs of mental illness and you can learn the best ways to treat whatever problems you may have. More

If you’ve been interested in growing your own organic fruits and vegetables, try these helpful hints and get growing. More

They say clothes make the man, and while that isn’t totally true, it does have an impact in the workplace. More

The current economic climate in this country is making people feel quite unsure about their financial future. Learn how to weather the storm and make sound decisions with your money. More

Like online video? Then you'll love Now See This.

Back To School

Find out how to send your student off to college, make sure your child's backpack isn't too heavy and see how much you remember from your school days. Check out our Back to School guide. More


Sponsored Links

Power Search
 

Student Credit Cards

Get Educated About Student Credit Cards
Can a credit card make you smarter? Undergraduates who use their student credit cards wisely certainly appear that way. More Details!

Online And Campus Programs


Degree Level:


I want to study:

Zip: