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State Superintendent Outlines New Literacy Campaign

The West Virginia Board of Education held its final meeting of the year Wednesday morning, and was presented with a new plan.

The West Virginia Board of Education (WVBOE) held its final meeting of the year Wednesday morning, and was presented with a new plan.

State Superintendent of Schools David Roach spent more than 30 minutes outlining the state’s new literacy campaign, called ‘Ready, Read, Write West Virginia’ to aggressively address low academic achievement across the state.

“As I’ve said before, our task is not only to improve our West Virginia education system to levels before the pandemic, but also to take bolder action to elevate and lead the nation in our work,” Roach said. “We know it all begins with literacy, and students who cannot read become adults who struggle to succeed. Literacy and reading have an immeasurable impact.”

West Virginia had some of the lowest math and reading scores in the nation on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress, released in October.

Roach outlined eight actions the West Virginia Department of Education will take as part of the campaign. They include expanding career technical programs into middle school, a renewed focus on recruiting, supporting and retaining teachers and principals and building relationships at the state and local levels.

“It must be a part of our culture, as a department of education, as county boards of education, as individual schools, local communities, and as a state as a whole. This is a job beyond the ability of one state agency,” he said. “Instead, we must all work together to make literacy a priority. I am committed to working with anyone willing to support the crucial work of what we’re trying to do.”

Since his appointment in August, Roach has made a return to educational fundamentals a priority.

“When you appointed me to this position, we agreed on a common vision and goal for public education. We needed to get back to the basics of teaching, we needed to focus on reading, writing and math. And we had to do it with purpose and with urgency.”

According to Roach, the ‘Ready, Read, Write West Virginia’ will also implement and expand existing state programs, like First Lady Cathy Justice’s ‘Communities in Schools’ (CIS) initiative.

“We always talk about the overload that the teacher has, they have to have the basic needs met of the student, before they can even learn, and CIS does that,” he said. “That’s what we need in every school that helps the principal and our teachers to teach and take things off their plate.”

Report: Pre-K Programs Put W.Va. Students Ahead in Literacy

According to a study by New America’s Education Policy Program, West Virginia leads the nation in developing children’s literacy skills.

West Virginia was one of five states graded as “walking” in the report, meaning the state is making solid strides towards a comprehensive birth through third grade literacy policy.

The report notes West Virginia landed at the top of the list due to its robust pre-K programs. In addition to state-funded pre-K, West Virginia has low adult-to-child ratios in pre-K classrooms and high standards for teachers, requiring a bachelor’s degree with specialization in early childhood education.

West Virginia ranks alongside New York, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Wisconsin in the top-tier based on 65 indicators in seven policy areas also including educator qualifications, equitable funding and standard assessments.

State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano said closing the literacy achievement gap by the end of third grade will increase opportunities for all West Virginia students to graduate high school with the skills needed to be college or career ready.

Little Free Libraries Popular in Huntington

Huntington is just the latest city in the state to catch on to the Little Free Library Trend. It’s a new fad that’s changing communities and reading habits.

Matt Lockhart is a lawyer in Huntington who decided in late spring and early summer he wanted to put a Little Free Library in his yard.

“This one is a little interesting, fashion accessories, the complete 20^th century source book. And a bunch of little kids books like beaty bear, there was some Dr. Seuss books in here the other day,” Lockhart said. “When I saw the idea of a little free library I thought that would be a great thing to do, to put in our backyard to kind of bring back a sense of community to this area.”

Lockhart saw one other one in Huntington and decided he wanted to see what it would do for his community and what it could mean to kids in the community.

“Our number one goal with it was to just simply bring a smile to people’s faces, whether it’s parents or kids,” Lockhart said. “It’s really kind of turned into a, it’s put a smile on our faces because we’ll look out the back window and see a mom with two kids and a stroller. It really kind of restores your faith in humanity.”

What’s a Little Free Library? It’s a structure that’s not unlike a large mailbox that sits in the front yard. But it’s larger and built to look like a little house. You’re free to leave books or take others. It’s an honor system that allows for all ages to take books home and read them. Books range from ones parents read to small children, to the newest Harper Lee novel. It’s all part of an effort Lockhart said has served a dual purpose, building community and making reading fun for kids.

“This lady came up with a little boy, she was pushing him a stroller and she said ‘I just want to thank you so much for putting this up here, we go on a walk every day and exchange a book, and while I’m walking, he’s sitting in a stroller reading a book,” Lockhart said.

Jonas McNearney lives a few houses down from Lockhart and his Little Free Library on 1^st street and 12^th ave. He’s got three children and said the library is something his kids look forward to every week.

“It’s really cool because of the fact that we get to get them involved with the community and exchanging books with their friends in the community and meeting new people in the community,” McNearney said.

Todd Bol is the executive director of LittleFreeLibrary.org and the man with the original idea of putting a small building in his yard in 2009. His organization sells Little Free Libraries for folks who can’t build their own Bol encourages people to join his organization, paying $40 to be placed on a national map along with other Little Free Libraries. And members received a placard to place on their Little Free Library to signify they’re part of the group. With over 32,000 Little Free Libraries around the globe, Bol said they’re bringing communities together all over the world.

Making reading cool and interesting is something Tri-State Literacy Council Director Megan Shoub said is a great added benefit of the little libraries.

“One of the best ways to address literacy issues in the future is to make sure kids have those skills now,” Shoub said. “If we can get kids excited about reading and interested in learning and make that something they do for fun and it’s readily accessible to them, not every kid can go down to a library on their own.”

Elizabeth Sheets and her husband Scott put a library in their yard and in front of their daughter’s school at St. Joe Elementary.

“In today’s world of technology and people are going to iPads and Kindles, I still want to hold a book and I’m hoping the children can still have that feeling of holding a book and opening the pages and looking through it and learning at the same time,” Elizabeth Sheets said.

Little Free Libraries exist all over the state from Lewisburg, Athens and Williamson to Logan and Morgantown.

Little Libraries Post Up in Mercer County Town

The town of Athens has made it easier for folks to access books in town. The town was one of thousands across the country to open an official Little Library.

There are three “Little Libraries” throughout the town of Athens made possible by the Little Free Library Organization. Essentially, it’s a box full of books that sits on a pole about 5 feet tall.

The libraries are intended for residents and students to give a book and/or take a book from the boxes. So far book traffic out of the Little Libraries in Athens has been steady.

The Little Free Library organization is a not for profit organization whose mission is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.

The project was made possible with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Town of Athens and Concord University