In July, Starkville and Oktibbeha County will be announced as a grade-level reading community.
The designation is based on efforts being taken across the community toward grade-level reading by the third grade. The journey toward recognition began in 2017, and has brought educators and other community stakeholders together to work toward the cause. The coalition met Wednesday, May 2 at the Emerson Family School.
“Our plan has already been approved,” said Emerson School Director Joan Butler. “It’s just the official announcement will be done in July for his grade level community.” Butler explained how the system would work, as well as its goals and hopes.
“Of course, it’s about grade level reading, and being sure children are successful in school,” Butler said. “It has to do with young children, as well as up to third grade, because we have the reading gate, which the children are tested.”
All Mississippi third graders are now required to pass a reading gate test before proceeding to the fourth grade.
“That’s really where we’re going,” Butler said.
Butler emphasized the importance of early intervention, especially with students from at-risk backgrounds.
The meeting centered on recruiting people of more backgrounds to the coalition, so it would more so resemble the community. Possible fundraising sources and the areas of attendance, school readiness and summer education programs also came up.
“With those three areas, we are looking at things that we’re currently doing in this community and gaps in those services,” Butler said. “We’re trying to get representation from the entire community, for helping to understand from a parent’s perspective, from a business person’s perspective, individual and community, what they see we’re needing to do as a community to address those three areas.”
The Campaign for Grade Level Reading is a national collaborative organization devoted to literacy by third grade. In Mississippi, there are currently three grade level reading communities: Gulfport, Oxford-Lafayette-University and Southeast Mississippi (Hattiesburg/Lamar County). A few other communities will be announced along with Starkville- Oktibbeha in July.