Selected Article:
Delta Council Adult Literacy
program

Reading is indeed fundamental for area adults

by Tonjanital Johnson
DBJ Contributing Writer

Being able to locate an intersection on a street map or even read this article would seem like a simple task to most people, but for a countless number of adults in the Delta who have poor reading skills or cannot read at all, these would be considered major accomplishments. To address the problem of high illiteracy rates in the region and to assist those who have a desire to learn to read, Delta Council established an adult literacy program that has not only successfully taught those of the lowest literacy levels to read but has also given them greater confidence and new hope for the future.

The Delta Council Adult Literacy program began with a pilot program in Yazoo County in 2002 to jump-start the reading abilities of adult participants in the Mississippi Delta. The program was so successful that Delta Council decided to expand it to include other counties in the region.

Dr. Connie Schimmel, President of Fairview Learning who is overseeing the program says, “It is thrilling to take someone who has no knowledge of print and move them from nothing to a second grade reading level or to work with someone at a fourth or fifth grade reading level and move them beyond that.”

According to Schimmel, who has several highly qualified tutors working with her in the program, it is often easier to work with adults who are learning to read as opposed to children because adults are better able to indicate if a learning technique is working or not. In addition, adult participants are able to understand that if they learn to read better, their quality of life improves as well, she says.

The Delta Council Adult Literacy Program is an accelerated, short-term program that achieves success by increasing self-esteem quickly and using proven educational methods to improve reading skills without interrupting the participants’ daily lifestyle or routine. According to Delta Council’s published materials on the program, participants of the pilot program in Yazoo City, who ranged in age from 36 to 66, mastered 75 percent of the sounds of the English language and averaged almost four grade levels of progress in their reading comprehension skills after only eight 30-minute sessions per participant.

Schimmel, who works with representatives from various county agencies to identify participants for the program, says that individuals interested in the program must meet two basic criteria in order to enroll. First, they must have low literacy skills, and secondly, they have to want to read better. To date, the program has helped improve the literacy skills of individuals in Yazoo City, Belzoni, Rolling Fork and Myersville. She says Delta Council has plans to expand the program to include five or six more counties in the near future.

“This is one of the most exciting things that I’ve done in a long time,” says Schimmel. “As far as its ability to teach people to read, this program is very successful, but what’s really rewarding is to see personalities change and the participants’ daily living skills improve.”

For more information about the Delta Council Adult Literacy Program, contact Schimmel at (601) 974-1352. DBJ