Are Your Child’s Needs Being Met from Idaho’s Investment in Literacy?

Guest Contributor /// Jennifer Swindell of Idaho Ed News

About 37,000 Idaho parents will get a written letter this year from their child’s school, informing them their son or daughter is not reading at grade level.

Parents should ask their school leaders this question: What’s the plan to provide extra help for my child?

Every district and charter school has a new literacy plan and Idaho is investing $11.25 million to support these plans, designed to help struggling readers in grades K-3.

The literacy plans vary widely and the goals are all over the map — many are vague and several districts set no goals even though the state assigned them to include reading benchmarks in their literacy plans.

The state is not holding educators accountable for the taxpayer dollars or student achievement — schools can do what they want with the money and they don’t have to meet specific goals.

So, it’s up to parents to hold school leaders accountable. It’s up to parents to ensure their child is getting the support he or she needs to read at grade level.

How It Works:

Each fall, nearly 37,000 kindergarten through third-grade students arrive at school without the skills they need to read at grade level, based on the Idaho Reading Indicator assessment. The fall IRI test is used to screen students for interventions; the spring end-of- year assessment is used to track student growth.

Gov. Butch Otter and the 2016 Legislature agreed to put $11.25 million in taxpayer dollars toward helping Idaho kids improve their reading skills. The state will carve up the money so districts and charters can expect about $300 for every student that scored below grade level.

Each school plans to invest its money differently. Some will increase training opportunities for teachers. Some are purchasing technology so kids can work individually. Others are adding part-time staff. Others are adding programs, from all-day kindergarten to summer school.

Parents should get involved now, be engaged, ask questions. Ensure that this multi-million dollar investment is working for all kids.

For more detail about Idaho’s literacy plans, read this article on Idaho EdNews about this literacy launch.

Click here to read some of the literacy plans.

For more news on Idaho education, go to IdahoEdNews.org.