That goal is one part of Governor
Earl Ray Tomblin’s education reform law state lawmakers approved earlier this
year.
On Wednesday, the state Board of
Education granted the state Office of Early Learning the approval needed to
apply to be part of the Campaign For Grade Level Reading which would take a
comprehensive approach to early literacy.
“Rather than just dealing with what
happens in the classroom or in the school, we’re looking at a much bigger
picture,” said Charlotte Webb, director of elementary education in the Office
of Early Learning.
“We’re trying to make sure that
we’re taking everything into account, from birth all the way up through third
grade, and everybody who impacts literacy throughout the life of a child.”
The Campaign For Grade Level
Reading is focused on early child care and early grade education, helping
parents in their critical roles as first teachers and using grade-level reading
proficiency as a unifying goal.
School readiness, chronic absences
and summer learning losses are addressed in a number of ways by taking
community approaches.
Those with the national effort
have said reading proficiency by third grade is the most important predictor of
high school graduation and career success but, every year, more than 80 percent
of low-income children, in West Virginia and
across the United States
Webb said teachers do their best,
but students need to start with a good foundation for literacy.
“By the time they get to
kindergarten, it can be too late, essentially, because they don’t have that
good background knowledge. They don’t have rich vocabularies. They
haven’t been engaged in conversations,” she said.
“There’s just so much that happens
before students get to school that can cause them to be at a deficit.”
Webb said the work to apply to
be part of the Campaign for Grade Level Reading will start immediately.
