Wayne County joins program for early literacy
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on January 30, 2017 7:18 AM
Full Size
Submitted photo
Baby and Me, a weekly program offered a Wayne County Public Library, is a creative time for parents, grandparents and others to come in with children 18 months old and younger. READ Wayne, an initiative formed recently to help shore up early reading skills, is working with the library as well as the school system and other agencies to develop activities and programs for the county's children.
Wayne County has been accepted into the National Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, or NCGLR, becoming one of six communities in the state participating in the effort to increase early reading proficiency.
READ Wayne, along with an effort in Nash and Edgecombe counties, were recently named a part of the nationwide movement to position children on a pathway to grade-level reading by the end of third grade.
In 2015, only 46.1 percent of third-graders in Wayne County scored at reading proficient levels on the end-of-grade reading test, with their counterparts in Edgecombe and Nash counties coming in at 42.8 and 31.5 percent, respectively.
Believing that reading in the early grades is a predictor of success in high school and beyond, many efforts have begun around the county from such agencies as Partnership for Children, Wayne County Public Library and Wayne County Public Schools.
In the past year, agencies around the county began pooling other resources and engaging in more discussions about addressing the issue.
READ Wayne was formed from a grassroots effort, with the library taking the lead and grants being secured to support the project. Allison Pridgen, retired from WCPS, was hired to serve as the READ Wayne project manager.
Among her tasks was to develop a Community Solutions Action Plan, or CSAP.
During a meeting of the local coalition earlier in the month, she shared the plan with the group. The 19-page document highlighted some of the goals and plans to be enacted over the next three years -- including field trips to the library and training efforts at schools with the lowest performance rates, incorporating staff and parents, and creating programs during the summer months to maintain reading skills.
NCGLR addresses three underlying challenges that are barriers to young children, especially those from low-income families, preventing them from learning to read proficiently -- growing numbers entering kindergarten already behind, attendance issues and losing ground academically during the summer months.
Both coalitions in Wayne and the combined neighboring counties of Nash and Edgecombe are addressing some of the challenges, with a heavy emphasis on school readiness and summer learning.
In North Carolina, the NCGLR is led by the N.C. Early Education Foundation. Membership provides communities with access to experts focused on early literacy, support in addressing obstacles keeping many children from learning to read and opportunities to share and learn best practices from other communities across the state and nation.
Since its launch in 2010, the national campaign has grown to 300 communities.
Wayne, along with Edgecombe and Nash counties join four existing communities in the state in the NCGLR -- Gaston, Meckenburg, Moore and Wake counties.
"The development of our READ Wayne Action Plan has inspired broad spectrum support among diverse groups in our county that want to dramatically improve educational outcomes for our students," Mrs. Pridgen said.
Among the partners participating in the READ Wayne effort are Communities in Schools, YMCA, Goldsboro Pediatrics, Housing Authority City of Goldsboro, Literacy Connections, local government representatives, parents, Partnership for Children of Wayne County, Seymour Johnson AFB, Sydney's Book Club, United Way of Wayne County, WAGES/Head Start, University of Mount Olive, Wayne Community College, Cooperative Extension, Department of Social Services, Wayne County Health Dept., Wayne County Public Library, Wayne County Public Schools, Wayne First and Wayne Memorial Hospital.