During a recent “Literacy in Action” tour, community leaders visited classrooms at Glendale Elementary School where students enthusiastically participated in identifying words and phrases.
Sound simple? For too many children it’s not. Sobering statistics show that 68 percent of fourth-graders in the United States fail to meet proficient reading standards. Indian River County students fare slightly better; however when 24 percent of third-graders and 43 percent of eighth-graders are unable to pass the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), that’s cause for concern.
Ray Oglethorpe, founder and chairman of The Learning Alliance, doesn’t mince words when he says, “In grades K through three, you learn to read; thereafter, you read to learn. If you don’t learn how to read, nothing else matters.”
Read the entire article in the January 2013 issue
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