Mississippi Department of Education officials held a meeting in McComb on Thursday night to discuss literacy requirements for students and ways parents can help improve their children’s reading skills.
The meeting at the McComb High School cafeteria touched on four key issues: Providing at-home resources to improve students’ reading skills, Mississippi's approach to teaching reading, exploring the third grade reading assessment and the Literacy-Based Promotion Act.
“Based on an analysis of reading scores and graduation rates of 3,975 students over 10 years, students who could not read by the end of the third grade were four times more likely to drop out of high school,” MDE literacy coach Britney Dewease said.
Dewease said statistics show 88% of students who fail to finish high school were struggling readers in third grade.
“Ensuring all kids can read by the end of third grade is critical for their future success,” she said.
Dewease said students who are not reading proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to not graduate high school.
She said if an African-American or Hispanic student is not reading proficiently by third grade, he or she is six times more likely to drop out or fail to graduate from high school. And a low-income minority who is not a proficient reader by the end of third grade is eight times more likely to drop out or fail to graduate from high school.
The Literacy-Based Promotion Act requires kindergarteners and third-graders to pass reading tests before they can move on to the next grade.
The goal is for all third-graders to read at or above level before beginning fourth grade, state education officials said.
Kindergarten students are required to take the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment test at the beginning and end of the school year.
MDE literacy coach Zach Williams said students who are not reading proficiently in fourth grade may have issues for the remainder of their education.
“They’re going to struggle through the rest of their school if they’re able to graduate most of the time,” he said. “It takes everybody working together, really, to get them where we want them to be.”
Williams said state law requires parents to be notified if their child is in kindergarten through third grade and has been identified as struggling in reading.
MDE literacy coach Kenny Gibson said parents should help their children with reading.
Dr. Kristin Brown, a literacy instructional support specialist for the McComb School District, discussed the importance of literacy.
“Literacy is the key to success. I cannot stress enough that you are your child’s first teacher,” she told parents in the audience. “We should not have to wait on a paper to come home for you to know if your child is struggling. When they bring their homework home, afford an opportunity to actually sit with them and let them read to who? You.”
