Detroit climbs a little bit on literacy list
November 30, 2005

BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

The bad news: Detroiters aren't reading much, according to a study released Tuesday by Central Connecticut State University.

The good news: The city's residents are at least doing a little better than they were last year, when Detroit ranked among the 10 worst cities with populations of 200,000 or more in terms of literacy.

The study, called America's Most Literate Cities, attempts to measure whether communities support reading and whether the people within the community actually read.

"Most of the talk about literacy has to do with school test scores," said Jack Miller, the study's author and president of Central Connecticut State University. "That's just part of the story.” Miller used six criteria: education level of the residents; number of libraries; newspaper readership; number of booksellers; number of publishing journals or periodicals, and, new this year, Internet use in terms of reading newspapers, ordering books and having access.
This year, Detroit is up to 56th of 69 big cities with populations of 250,000 or more. Last year, the city was 69th of 79 cities with 200,000 or more.

Seattle was first, and Stockton, Calif., was last.

"I'm encouraged if we moved higher up on the list," said Rachel Burnside, a Detroit mother of three. "We could be higher, but we've got a long way to go. It's not going to happen overnight."
The number of booksellers and the education level of the population are two factors holding Detroit's rank down, Miller said Tuesday.

In 2005, Detroit ranked 60th out of 69 in terms of education, and 66th in booksellers.
The study is encouraging, said John Telford, a Detroit resident and former superintendent of Rochester Public Schools. The former executive director for Detroit Public Schools now works with students at Finney High School.

"That's welcome news, since we've got a 47% illiteracy rate," Telford said. "Any kind of good stat in our town right now fills me with hope."

Miller said there are several actions cities can take to improve their literacy ranking. Investing in public libraries is one, he said. Detroit's public library system began charging nonresident fees in 2004, after library officials calculated state funding had fallen by $6 million.
Other actions don't have to cost money, Miller said. They include having a sports star or other high-profile figure as the spokesperson for an annual drive to get everyone in a city reading a specific book, or soliciting contributions to buy books for young people who might not otherwise own books.

Finally, Miller suggests people simply turn on the closed-caption option on their televisions.
"They're going to hear the words at the same time they see them, and without even realizing they're studying," Miller said.

To see the full study, go to www.ccsu.edu/amlc. Contact PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI at 586-469-4681 or pwalsh@freepress.com.     

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