Mountrail County Promoter - Columnists

By Allison Olimb, North Dakota Newspaper
Association Education Foundation president
A new round of Kid Scoop News, a monthly print publication geared toward engaging kids in reading, is coming to classrooms across the state this week and right around Labor Day.
A huge thank you goes to my friends at the Park River Area Community Endowment Fund, who support this effort to encourage not only media literacy but literacy. Kid Scoop News is a project backed by the North Dakota Newspaper Association Education Foundation, but we can’t do it alone.
Wonderful sponsors from across the state are helping us grow future newspaper readers.
According to the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, 44% of the state’s K-12 students are reading at grade level, with 39% of third-graders doing so. Across the nation, that 40% is typical of literacy rates.
So, how do we improve on that? Kids aren’t going to read if they don’t like it. They need opportunities to engage with reading and discover the joy of finding something that interests them. Print media may feel like a dinosaur to some, but that indelible ink is still a vehicle for learning and change.
In the last five years, researchers at the University of Valencia analyzed 74 studies in two meta-analyses to ask whether digital devices are superior to printed materials.
Some of the key findings from that study showed students usually comprehend and retain information better when reading print, and the negative effects of digital reading are generally small but are more noticeable in younger students.
The lead researcher, Lidia Altamura, said, “For young children, we estimate that those who spend ten hours reading print books or magazines in their free time will exhibit six to eight times higher levels of reading comprehension than young children who spend the same amount of time reading on digital devices.”
So, if your student brings home a copy of Kid Scoop News, please know that it isn’t just a throwaway handout from some nameless, faceless corporation. It is from real, living, breathing people who are out here rooting for your kids to develop a lifelong love of reading, one issue at a time.
Note: Donations may be sent to the North Dakota Newspaper Association Education Foundation-Kid Scoop, 501 E. Main Ave., Suite 75, Bismarck, ND 58501.
A tax-deductible gift of $250 provides Kid Scoop News to an entire classroom for one year. Schools and classroom sponsors will receive acknowledgment in an upcoming issue. For more information, contact director@ndna.com.
Allison Olimb, a native of Crystal, North Dakota, is the editor of the Walsh County Press in Park River.