Literacy Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Highlights Literacy Awareness Day Friday

Gov. Jim Justice is encouraging all West Virginians to reflect on the importance of early childhood literacy Friday.

In July, the governor declared Oct. 20 as National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day in West Virginia.

During his regular briefing Thursday, Justice called childhood literacy “absolutely essential.”

“The more you have the opportunity to read to a child at a very, very young age, do that because it will only make them better and better readers as we go forward,” Justice said. “Those folks that are great readers seem to excel in every way.”

The proclamation Justice signed cites the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results that were published in October 2022. That test showed 78 percent of West Virginia’s public school fourth graders performed below the NAEP Proficient level in reading, compared to 68 percent nationally.

The recently implemented Third Grade Success Act hopes to address early childhood literacy shortfalls.

“Research tells us that a child’s vocabulary at the age of three is a strong predictor of their reading proficiency in the third grade,” Justice said. “The more that we’re able to teach them to read, and read to them, the more their performance is off the chart.”

Justice also took a moment to acknowledge the work of his wife, Cathy Justice, and the Communities in Schools initiative for helping students.

Teachers Learning State’s New Literacy And Numeracy Programs

The West Virginia Department of Education is hosting hundreds of educators during the second INVEST Conference of the summer.

Teachers are meeting in Morgantown this week to learn more about the state’s new programs for reading and math.

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) is hosting hundreds of educators during the second INVEST Conference of the summer.

Superintendent Michele Blatt said this is the second statewide conference to help prepare educators to implement the Third Grade Success Act. Teachers from the south of the state met in Charleston last month.

“It is to begin the implementation of House Bill 3035, the Third Grade Success Act, to start training our teachers and principals on the implementation of the science of reading components,” Blatt said. “And also start with the Unite with Numeracy work around the math skills so that our students can be successful by the time they leave third grade.”

Todd Seymour, principal of Preston High School and a former math teacher said, “This week is all about trying to enhance our reading and math, teaching and learning in the state.”

Seymour said educators are trying to reiterate the foundational courses and skills that impact every educational outcome.

“Not that social studies, or science, or foreign language isn’t important,” he said. “But reading and math are incorporated in all of those. It’s the foundational courses, our reading and math. If you can’t read the social studies textbook, you’re not going to do well. If you’re in science and can’t do the calculations, you’re not going to do well.I think that’s really what we’re trying to do, and trying to come up with research based strategies that are going to help and enhance what we’ve been doing,” he said.

For many educators, INVEST is their first look at the state’s Ready Read Write literacy program as well as the Math4Life: Unite With Numeracy program.

Trenna Robinson, a fifth grade teacher in Elkins, said she’s excited to learn about the Unite With Numeracy program, but that Randolph County has been proactive in improving its math base.

“Schools were allowed to have their own math team and we meet after school, and we actually had our own math getaway, which was really cool,” Robinson said. “Teachers brought different ideas. It’s all new up and coming things to help make our students successful.”

She said with the setbacks of COVID-19, teachers as well as students and parents need to refocus and get back to where they need to be, and both small, local teams as well as statewide conferences, contribute to that.

“I like our small teams, because we can focus on our students and our needs within our buildings and our county,” Robinson said. “I also think this is really beneficial because we see large groups of people, and see different ideas from different places and get their ideas and see what we can use to help our students be successful.”

Libraries Keep Kids Learning Over The Summer

Summer is the perfect time for students of all ages to relax, but it’s also a time when learning loss can occur. One of the best resources to avoid the so-called “summer slide” is the library.

On a recent Tuesday morning, the Morgantown Public Library is holding its weekly Summer Reading Program event. Dwight Overstreet helps his youngest son Riley complete the worksheet about friendship in literature. His older son is upstairs, looking at anime books.

Overstreet brought both his sons to the Morgantown Public Library to take part in the day’s activities and pick out some new books.

“I’ve never seen the excitement on both of my boys’ faces when they walk into the library,” he said. “I think it is of such a huge vital importance for a child’s development to come to a public library like this.

Despite living in Morgantown for almost a decade, Overstreet says it’s only the second time he’s brought his children to the library. But as a middle school teacher, he recognizes the importance of summer reading.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Overstreet said. “I do think a lot of it is for them to utilize their abilities, to enhance them because reading is such a fundamental skill that you use from a young age to even as an adult.”

Libraries provide a unique bridge for children during the summer months they’re out of school. A study by the Education Commission of the States found that while students make similar achievement gains during the school year, disadvantaged youth fall significantly behind in reading during the summer.

The same analysis found that two-thirds of the 9th-grade reading achievement gap can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years.

Sarah Palfrey is the director of the Morgantown Public Library system. She says Overstreet isn’t alone in delaying a trip to the library in recent years. But she says this summer has shown a marked increase in the public’s engagement with libraries since the COVID-19 pandemic emergency subsided.

“The enthusiasm is through the roof, both from the staff side of things and from the community,” she said. “We have been really pleased to see people, the return of a lot of families that we hadn’t seen for a while.”

Palfrey says increased engagement is great to see because reading experts agree that all reading counts toward a child’s development.

“But any kind of reading, all reading counts,” she said. “That’s our always at the baseline of everything.”

That means everything from picture books, to more traditional chapter books, graphic novels and even audiobooks count, regardless of topic.

“I think the biggest benefit that most kids get out of summer reading is sort of being in charge of choosing their own books,” Palfrey said. “Kids get told what to read a lot and summer reading gives them an opportunity to explore their own interests, read all the Minecraft books, all the Lego books.”

If your last experience with summer reading was from your own school days, things have changed a little bit.

Megan Tarbett is the director of the Putnam County Libraries as well as the president of the West Virginia Library Association. She says libraries have moved away from challenges or reading counts, and instead try to encourage library visitors to embrace the reading experience.

“We’ve moved away from quantitative logging of books for the children. We do bingo sheets and the things are, ‘I read for 15 minutes, I read outside, I picked a new book, I’ve visited the library,’” Tarbett said. “It’s different things instead of ‘I’ve read 100 books this summer,’ or ‘I only read two books this summer,’ because we don’t want to make anyone feel like their reading is less worthy, because they didn’t read as much.”

Libraries across the state and the country are hoping to not only keep kids learning during the summer, but more importantly spark a self-directed love of reading and learning.

Libraries also help with what Tarbett calls the business of life.

“Copiers, faxes, notaries, sometimes people are scrambling to try to print things and they forget that, you know, the library is there for them,” Tarbett said. “A lot of it is getting them to come to us with what they need, whether that’s entertainment or sustenance.”

Some libraries in West Virginia even serve as locations for summer food services, places where students can get free meals. And as temperatures heat up, libraries can play another important role in the community as simply a place to cool down and get away from the heat.

“It’s also uniquely situated as we require nothing of you to be in the building,” Tarbett said. “You can come in, use our computers, read our books, look at our magazines and never get a card. I don’t need to know who you are. And you don’t have to pay me a dime to just be in this place. And that is such a rarity. The library expects nothing of you.”

Air Quality Alerts Continue And Teachers Gather To Talk Student Literacy On This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, hundreds of southern West Virginia teachers are gathered in Charleston this week, learning how to best improve student literacy. Randy Yohe reports on implementing the “Ready Read Write” initiative.

On this West Virginia Morning, hundreds of southern West Virginia teachers are gathered in Charleston this week, learning how to best improve student literacy. Randy Yohe reports on implementing the “Ready Read Write” initiative.

Also, in this show, officials have issued alerts about air quality issues in West Virginia. Eric Douglas has more.

The Putnam County Commission approved an ordinance Tuesday that could restrict drag shows. Curtis Tate has more.

And with the July 4 holiday approaching, officials are asking the public to rethink using fireworks. Delaney Wells has more.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.

Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.

Teresa Wills is our host.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Senate Moves Dozens of Bills As Session End Looms

With just two days left in the session, the Senate passed dozens of bills Thursday. Many of the bills related to issues of education that legislators have made a priority all session.

House Bill 2346 declares a shortage of qualified bus operators and allows retired bus operators to accept employment without losing their retirement benefits.

Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said that an alarmingly large fiscal note that stymied a similar Senate bill from passing had been removed.

“One last important note Mr. President, I’d like to add is that originally, three sessions ago I saw a fiscal note of $999,999,999 and it is now at zero,” Grady said.

During discussion of the bill in committee, Grady – who is a teacher – said she has seen firsthand how the driver shortage is already interrupting students’ education.

The House of Delegates must now approve the Senate’s changes to the bill before it becomes law.

House Bill 2890 modifies student discipline guidelines for schools. The bill was amended twice on the floor to limit the application of new discipline provisions to grades six through 12, and exclude their application to elementary schools.

The new provisions primarily relate to when a student can be excluded from a classroom for behavior that obstructs the teaching or learning process of others. The bill now returns to the House for its approval of the changes.

House Bill 3035, in its original form, was intended to establish the state’s Grow Your Own program to facilitate a career path for high school students to pursue a career in education. However, after extensive amending, the bill no longer contains provisions for Grow Your Own, and is instead the vehicle for several other priority programs.

“This amendment will replace the House of Delegates method of promoting grade level proficiency in English language, arts and mathematics by grade three, which is the Third Grade Success Act that was part of Senate Bill 274, which has already passed the Senate earlier this session,” Grady said. “It would also remove provisions relating to the Grow Your Own program,” Grady said. “The amendment also adds in a modified version of House Bill 3293, which imposes requirements on the state board and local education agencies for addressing learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dyscalculia.”

Senate Bill 274, which had already passed out of the Senate, was similarly and significantly amended by the House Education Committee earlier this week, necessitating the addition of the Third Grade Success Act to House Bill 3035 to ensure it a chance to pass.

The bill is also pending House approval of the Senate’s amendments.

The Senate completed legislative action on House Bill 3224 adds West Virginia Junior College to the list of eligible institutions that can accept PROMISE scholarship recipients.

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, said the change will help the state address its shortage of nurses.

“West Virginia junior college, they have three campuses around the state and one of the biggest programs that they have is their Registered Nurse program, training nurses at more than 10 locations around the state,” Weld said. “They’ve got an average of 400 students that they do, so I think that this legislation is going to help them build their student enrollment and will help West Virginians who want to become a nurse do so and help us with one of our bigger healthcare crisis that we have in the state.”

After a brief recess just after 1 p.m., the Senate returned to the floor and passed three other education bills.

House Bill 3369 completed legislative action and creates a School Safety Unit within the Division of Protective Services to conduct school safety inspections and make recommendations to county school personnel.

House Bill 3441, which completed legislative action, revises the training requirements for members of the Higher Education Policy Commission, while House Bill 3555 relates to student purchase and refunds of course material and awaits House approval.

Beyond Education

The Senate also passed out House Bill 2814, which would create a Hydrogen power task force to study Hydrogen energy in the state’s economy.

Sen. Randy E. Smith, R – Tucker, chair of the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee, said the task force will look at everything regarding the power source, including sources of potential hydrogen in the state, and recommendations to prepare the state workforce for jobs in the new industry.

“The study will include a review of regulations and legislation needed to guide development of hydrogen energy and an examination of how the state can take advantage of incentives created by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” he said.

The bill only needs its passage to be received by the House to complete legislative action.
Also passed out of the Senate was House Bill 3189, the PFAS Protection Act, which would identify and address sources of so-called “forever chemicals” to reduce toxic chemicals in drinking water supplies. The House must now approve the Senate’s changes to the bill before it becomes law.

Third Grade Success Act In Doubt After Legislative Shuffle

Improving early childhood literacy has been a key objective of this year’s session. Coming into the final week, a plan to boost reading in grades K-3 seemed all but final, until a few minutes in a House of Delegates committee Monday afternoon.

Improving early childhood literacy has been a key objective of this year’s session. The renewed focus came after state and national test results in 2022 showed steep declines in reading and math scores. Coming into the final week, a plan to boost reading in grades K-3 seemed all but final, until a few minutes in a House of Delegates committee Monday afternoon.

Senate Bill 274 was introduced in the first week of the session. The bill, titled the Third Grade Success Act, would enact several changes to how literacy is taught from kindergarten through third grade, which is considered a crucial period for lifetime reading skills.

After some discussions over the potential cost of the bill’s proposal to increase the number of assistant teachers and reading coaches in classrooms, the Senate passed it.

Just a few weeks ago, when the Senate presented its budget, it included more than $30 million for the bill’s implementation, and everything seemed set for the Third Grade Success Act to sail past the finish line.

That was until the House Education Committee took up the bill Monday afternoon.

Senate Education Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said she’s still trying to make sense of the House committee’s action.

“[Senate Bill] 274, that had the original Third Grade Success Act, actually was, I want to say gutted, and the House Education [Committee] put the dyslexia bill that’s sitting in my committee currently, [it] was put in place of all the other language,” Grady said.

Grady said that while addressing dyslexia is important, the Third Grade Success Act aims to improve the state’s basic literacy and address every student. Grady and her colleagues in the Senate Education Committee have reinserted the language of early childhood literacy, as well as dyslexia intervention, into another bill – House Bill 3035 – in the hopes that the program can still pass this session.

“We were understanding that 274 was going to be the literacy bill of the session,” Grady said. “That was changed all of a sudden, for some reason, there was no discussion in committee, I don’t know why, I haven’t been given a reason.”

“I don’t care if it’s under 274, or if it’s under 3035, but the language that was in the Third Grade Success Act, which is Senate Bill 274, is really important for our students and our teachers in our K through 3 classrooms,” she continued. “It would be unfortunate if we lost that due to some politics. The most important thing to me is that, that language passes so that we can start implementing that in our classrooms.”

House Education Chair Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, said the change is simply part of the legislative process, especially with different bills vying to achieve similar goals.

“This happens all the time at the end of the session, that you look at different competing versions, look at who wants to move what where, and come up with the best option that we can do,” he said. “But I’m sure at the end of the day we’ll probably get something accomplished with that.”

Both legislators are hopeful that a path forward can be found to help West Virginia’s students, but nothing is guaranteed until midnight Saturday.

“I’m fairly confident it’s just, at the end of the day at midnight on Saturday night, we have to have a product that goes out,” Ellington said. “If we don’t, then obviously that would not be a good thing. You still have to have the governor sign it. So until it’s all done, and it’s signed into law, it’s still just the process right now.”