Feeding Hungry Minds: Rewards for reading

“I’m not political. I’m a member of the ‘R’ party and ‘R’ stands for reading.” — Ted Hoskinson, Roots and Wings 

Third of five

Ted Hoskinson, the CEO of Roots and Wings, is on a mission to empower young readers and their teachers.

Why it matters: Hoskinson of Delray Beach is a retired educator and business owner. He founded the nonprofit in 2016 in honor of his late wife, Anne. It provides free, after-school tutoring for struggling readers in grades 1 through 3. 

• These programs, now at 15 schools from Jupiter to south county, reach nearly 1,300 students.

How it works: Students with perfect attendance earn “perfect” T-shirts to emphasize the importance of showing up to their success.

• If students exceed their reading growth goal, they receive a new bicycle and helmet thanks to the organization’s partnership with the Boca West Children’s Foundation.
• Root and Wings also recognizes outstanding educators.

What he’s saying: Teachers “teach to the middle,” Hoskinson said, and that’s not where the problems are.

•  Following a bell curve, about 25 percent of kids lie outside the “middle.” There isn’t a group of kids on the lower end who aren’t able to learn to read, Hoskinson said. “These kids are up to the challenge. But these are also kids who have never been told they’re doing a good job at anything.”

Most have stories that are familiar: They didn’t grow up with books in the home. Their parents didn’t (or couldn’t) read to them when they were small. The basic building blocks (alphabet blocks) that teach letter recognition and phonics were missing. 

It’s easy to get distracted by the issues that brought the child to that point — like generational poverty and parental illiteracy and kids who don’t hear English at home — but those are social challenges, he said. Teachers are not equipped to solve those problems, but they can put books in kids’ hands and provide tutors and give kids incentives for doing well. 

Hoskinson asks a simple question. “The child who cannot read: What’s the best job that he can get? It all starts with literacy.”

This is the third of five Stet News snapshots of Palm Beach County organizations devoted to childhood literacy. Last week: the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. 

Next week: The Foundations School.