The Acceleration and Transformation Schools initiative at Charleston County Public Schools is dedicated to making sure that family and community members have a say and play an important role in providing better support and care to the district's most vulnerable schools. As part of this initiative, the Acceleration Schools team held a series of Parent and Community Meetings that brought together over 140 parents, family members, teachers, school leaders, and various community representatives. The aim was to improve literacy across the schools, and the meetings focused on engaging diverse stakeholders and leaders from all over the county.
The meetings took place on November 1st, 9th, and 14th, 2023, at different schools and were advertised widely to encourage attendance. The meetings were held in the evening to make it easier for parents and community members to attend. During the meetings, attendees watched The Right to Read documentary and discussed the importance of literacy in students' lives and how parents could support their children with reading at home.
Research has shown that children who start behind in reading often struggle to catch up. Children who are not reading on grade level by 3rd grade are four times less likely to graduate high school. When a child does not learn to read, their chances of incarceration and homelessness increase exponentially.
The meetings adopted an interactive structure focused on facilitating discussion. Attendees were seated in small groups, and the evenings began with an introduction to the film and literacy data specific to Charleston County and Acceleration Schools. After each video clip, each group was given time to discuss their thoughts, ideas, and particular questions. After the videos were shared, leadership shared a Call to Action and provided parents with specific resources to take home and work on with their children.
Participants were asked to complete a survey after each Right to Read discussion, and the responses were overwhelmingly positive. More than 90% of respondents said watching the documentary was worthwhile. More than 90% of respondents felt extremely capable of supporting their children with reading at home. More than 85% said their child's teacher shares ways to help with reading at home.
Finally, Acceleration School will continue to focus on our "Big Rocks" of deepening instructional practices, providing feedback that transforms instruction, and ensuring equity in the ELA and Math Curriculum. The school will use data to inform instruction towards continuously improved student outcomes. The Right to Read initiative will continue to support CCSD's Vision 2027, which aims to ensure that all students will read on grade level by fifth grade. The 2027 Fifth Grade Cohort will be the focus of this effort. If you want to see a summary of the report for the 2023-2024 Right to Read Community Meeting Summary Report, you can click here.