Florida lawmakers playing catch-up to local efforts to improve third-grade reading skills

The Legislature finally came to the realization that the state should be taking responsibility for improving one glaringly deficient aspect of the state's public education system.

While Florida education policy stresses the role of reading in student success, especially the ability to read for comprehension by the end of third grade, that strong state focus has failed to secure the desired results as test scores continue to languish. More than 40 percent of students score below grade-level achievement goals.

Last week, the House K-12 Subcommittee approved a bill aimed at improving outcomes. But local efforts here are well ahead of the state on this issue.

The goal of the community-driven Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, which unites volunteers in Manatee and Sarasota counties in a nationwide campaign, is simple but promising: put students on track to achieve appropriate reading skills by third grade, the key marker for a lifetime of educational and career success. The campaign intends to reverse the consequences of deficient comprehension of the written word.

The House bill addresses some holes in state policy, specifically:

Encouraging earlier intervention with readers falling behind.

Districts would be required to provide parents of struggling students with updates every two weeks as well as provide home literacy instruction and strategies to families.

Teacher training would be required in "explicit, systematic and multi-sensory reading strategies."

Enlarge the state's early warning system to include struggling students in elementary schools, with a focus on kindergarten to third-grade reading. One indicator here is attendance, one of the strategies of the Manatee County School District and reading campaign.

Strong local strategies

The district deployed a new staff of specialists to reduce that vital factor in the futures of our youngest citizens -- simple attendance. In just one year, Samoset Elementary School earned national distinction by drawing an average of 97 percent of students to class every day, a big increase from last year's 89 percent.

The national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading focuses on five obstacles to literacy: school readiness and early learning; chronic absence; summer learning; healthy readers, and parent/family engagement. This campaign is determined to boost vocabulary skills from infancy to third grade.

The school district and campaign also target students in Title 1 schools for special outreach.

That campaign involves the United Way of Manatee County, Manatee Community Foundation, the school district and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee as lead partners with the Manatee Community Action Agency and the Early Learning Coalition as well as the Sarasota school district, the Patterson Foundation and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Overall there are more than 40 organizations and entities across the two counties involved in this.

With such a strong local alliance tackling this critical issue, additional state resources would be welcome should this or similar legislation gain traction. Unfunded mandates would not.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Florida lawmakers playing catch-up to local efforts to improve third-grade reading skills ."