When it comes to the fundamentals of education — reading, writing and arithmetic — none is more important than reading. It’s especially critical to learn to read at a young age as a building block to future learning.
The General Assembly, looking to improve reading scores statewide, launched the North Carolina Read to Achieve program. Starting in 2014, third graders must display a proficiency in reading or face summer school and testing before advancing to fourth grade.
Without state funding, local school districts face the challenge of implementing the program.
That’s where Michele Oros came through for Beaufort County Schools. The district library coordinator helped secure a $700,000 grant to fund an afterschool and summer reading program, covering such costs as bus transportation and subscriptions to online literacy programs.
A portion of the grant will also benefit the Reading is Fundamental program for pre-K to third grade students.
“My estimate is it’s going to cost $500 per student for them to go to summer school,” Oros told the Washington Daily News. “We said, ‘Look, we’re going to have to do it anyway.’ And we’re the only school in the state that’s got the funding to do it.”
BCS was one of 146 districts awarded the grant nationally and the only district in North Carolina.
The funds will go a long way to improving the reading statistics in Beaufort County, where 29 percent of the school system’s 2011-2012 third-graders were deficient in reading.
Oros, who has secured over $3 million in grants for the district, deserves our thanks.