The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

In the past, we've lamented the fact that parents' control over their children's choices in life seems to be dwindling.

As parents, we are confronted every day with the power of marketing, the appeal of visual electronics (read: video games and television) and a legal system that leaves us with fewer and fewer means to resist the poor choices our kids make.

But at least in our Touchet Valley communities, children, parents and educators seem to be making choices that are paying off for stu- dents, for the reputations of our school districts and for our society.

Last week, the Times carried a story reporting on the impres- sive scores among high school sophomores at Waitsburg and Prescott high schools in reading and writing. Most of the scores among the students were above the state average. The scores for Dayton High School have not yet been released.

Even better is the news that tests measuring these basic skills show they are improving.

Let's digress for a moment to consider how important this is.

American adults rank only 12th among 20 of the world's highest-income countries in literacy. More than three out of four of those on welfare and two out of three of those arrested are illiter- ate. Forty-four million adults in the United States can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child.

In the age group 17 - 24, which includes the age of high school graduates, 21 percent of our youths cannot pass the reading test to get into the Army. About half of the nation's unemployed youths aged 16 - 21 are functionally illiterate with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs. More than 20 percent of adults read at or below fifth-grade level - far below the level needed to earn a living wage.

We could continue with these daunting reading and writing statistics. Suffice to say, making good choices and starting reading and writing habits early in life will pay off. To cite one more statis- tic, children who have not developed some basic literacy abilities by the time they enter school are three to four times more likely to drop out of school at some point. One million kids do so every year, costing the nation $240 billion in lost earnings, foregone tax revenues and expenditures for social services.

The preliminary scores for the 2011-12 High School Profi- ciency Exam, show that Waitsburg students earned 100 percent in meeting reading and writing standards, while Prescott, which has a largely Hispanic student population, earned 84.6 percent in reading and 100 percent in writing.

Waitsburg's scores came up from 86.8 percent in reading and 94.7 percent in writing last year. Prescott's score in writing rose from 85.7 percent, while proficiency in reading fell from last year's 95 percent.

Statewide, 93.39 percent of 2012 sophomores passed the read- ing test and 93.63 percent passed the writing test. Ninety-two percent passed both. Students must pass this recently instituted assessment or a state-approved alternative in reading and writing to be eligible to graduate.

Despite the size of our communities or perhaps because of it, our school districts make an enormous contribution to the prepa- ration of our students for meaningful productive lives. Simply look around town this summer to see all the former high school graduates returning here during their breaks from Walla Walla Community College, Columbia Basin College, Washington State University, Western Washington University and academies in the Armed Services.

Now the big question is how the students did in math. This spring marked the second time students took end-of-course exams in Algebra I and Geometry, but because they took them in the last three weeks of school the results won't be known until late August.

Younger students can get a head start on preparing for the exit exams by taking them as early as tenth grade. We strongly encourage this.

What we encourage even more is parents and kids taking advantage of reading and writing opportunities from a very early age. Don't even wait for school. Read your child stories at night, have them read stories out loud to you and encourage them to keep a journal about their experiences - it might even be good therapy.

Reading and writing functions are like muscles. If you don't work out you get weak. So, this summer, put the Xbox away when you can and read a book. If you can't afford one, check out your wonderful libraries in each of our towns. That's what they are there for.