Lubbock joins nationwide campaign for grade-level reading

July 31, 2019 | Source: EverythingLubbock.com

LUBBOCK, Texas (NEWS RELEASE) – The following is a news release from the Lubbock Area United Way:

Lubbock is taking a big step toward improving student success by joining the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR), a collaborative effort to improve reading proficiency and early school success for children from low-income families.

In Lubbock, the local GLR campaign is supported by a partnership of Lubbock Area United Way, Lubbock ISD, Frenship ISD, and Lubbock-Cooper ISD.

“This campaign is just what our children and our city need,” said Doyle Vogler, Associate Superintendent for Lubbock ISD. “Getting our kids reading at grade-level by the end of third grade will go a long way to improving the lives of families and growing a stronger community here in Lubbock.”

Reading proficiency by the end of third grade is a critical milestone toward high school graduation and success later in life because it marks the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Students who have not mastered reading by that time are more likely to drop out of high school and struggle throughout their lives.

Approximately 1 in 8 people in Lubbock County are functionally illiterate and approximately 1/3 of children are not ready to enter kindergarten. While STAAR testing scores are improving in Region 17, they vary between 72% and 76% passing rate which falls slightly below the state average. Region 17 has a high school graduation rate of 91% which is consistent with the state average.

The communities’ action plans address three underlying challenges that can keep young children, especially those from low-income families, from learning to read proficiently — school readiness, school attendance and summer learning.

“We are delighted to welcome Lubbock into the growing GLR Network,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of CGLR. “We look forward to working with the leaders in the local sponsoring coalition. It is their commitment, persistence, vision and energy that will fuel the effort to ensure early school success and more hopeful futures for the children in this community.”

Membership in the GLR Network gives Lubbock access to experts and policymakers focused on early school success; assistance in addressing the challenges that keep many children from learning to read; and access to the online Community Learning for Impact & Improvement Platform (CLIP), which is designed to lower the barriers and costs associated with spreading information about what’s working, why and under what conditions.

(News release from the Lubbock Area United Way)