Educators Zero in on Third-Grade Reading Levels

October 22, 2011    |   Categories: News
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A coalition of Dubuque civic leaders will target early literacy to improve third-grade reading proficiency.

"It's a great opportunity for us to bring this issue to light," said Eric Dregne, vice president of programs at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque.

Dubuque is among the more than 150 communities that will create plans to address the fact that children who don't learn to read well by the end of third grade are more likely to struggle academically and less likely to finish high school.

The creation of a plan is an integral part of the application process for the 2012 All-America City Grade Level Reading Awards.

Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol, Community Foundation Board Chairman Phil Ruppel and Every Child Every Promise Board Chairman Doug Horstmann all signed a letter of intent submitted Oct. 14 to apply for the coveted award.

Although only three organizations signed the letter, multiple organizations will work together to create a plan that tackles school readiness, school attendance and summer learning -- the idea that children lose ground academically over the summer break.

"We've already provided (the Community Foundation) with preliminary data," said Dubuque Community School District Superintendent Larie Godinez.

Research has shown that students who don't read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to not receive a high school diploma than those who are proficient readers by third grade, according to "Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation."

"Third-grade reading success is a key indicator to graduation," Dregne said.

Godinez said the district has reading intervention programs at Title 1 schools and professional development on literacy instruction, among other things, in place to help improve reading proficiency.

The district's professional learning teams in each grade level are analyzing data. That data will be used to help determine where gaps exist and how to improve.

Through a pact between the National Civic League and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, communities will receive assistance through the campaign's network during the application process.

"It's really a great chance for us to access resources we'd normally not have access to," Dregne said.