Part of my job as superintendent of a school district
in South Carolina, and one which I approach with
my heart as much as my head, is to serve as a
literacy leader for my teachers, their students, and
our shared community.
Our district’s stated mission—“Empowering
and inspiring all to be educated and informed”—is
rooted in a shared belief that we all are responsible
for developing in our students a love of and passion
for reading. This includes families, public librarians,
and local businesses.
To engage everyone in this mission, we
implemented a districtwide reading initiative that
facilitates active reading at every school, every
morning, for 30 minutes. This isn’t limited to students
and teachers; it applies to everyone who steps foot
into each building. We all know that to become better
readers, we must read. We know, too, that it’s key for
us to model good reading habits.
In addition to the guaranteed school time, we
foster literacy partnerships with families and caregivers
by asking them to commit to an additional 30 minutes
of active reading time at home every day. As a result,
our students are now able to focus on reading for at
least an hour each day.
Our daily practices, bookended by this
independent reading time, use routines to support
reading and writing instruction. We continue to ensure
that appropriate and varied instructional approaches,
including those that develop word recognition,
language comprehension, strategic knowledge, and
reading–writing connections, are being implemented.
Understanding the importance of using a wide range
of texts from traditional print, digital, and online
resources, our teachers and students are inspiring
each other in the process.
We complement this literacy learning with
community events, such as our popular Reading
Under the Stars celebration held on the field of a
football stadium each fall. It’s a potent combination
and one that has led to a new generation of
Empowering Students
Through Reading
ILA UPDATE
students with a love of reading and the resources
and support to inspire them to foster that love
throughout their lives.
I share this here to demonstrate how our
district is working to ensure ILA’s Children’s Rights
to Read initiative is realized. We are not alone in
these efforts, of course. Our chapters and affiliates
are achieving amazing results every day. On pages
22 and 38, you’ll find several examples of the
advocacy work being done and how teachers are
encouraging students to take ownership of the
campaign and stand up for their rights as well.
This marks the first of two Literacy Today
issues focused on reading; the second is slated for
later this year and will complement a special issue
of ILA’s prestigious Reading Research Quarterly
(RRQ) journal. Amanda Goodwin, coeditor of RRQ,
offers a sneak peek of what’s to come. On page
14, she looks at the current science of reading
debates in the context of 21st-century technology. I
encourage you to check out her thought-provoking
take on the impact social media is having on
educational policy.
There’s no doubt that some of the
conversations on what research does or does not
say about instruction are charged (and some are
downright contentious). No matter which beliefs
you subscribe to, I’d like you to think about why
they’re so impassioned.
As for me, I see this as evidence of how much
we care about helping our children become strong,
self-motivated readers. If there’s only one thing you
take away from this first
special issue on reading,
I hope it’s that.
Stephen G. Peters
Vice President of the Board
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literacyworldwide.org | March/April 2020 | LITERACY TODAY