Ready to Read is an ImpactTulsa partnership focused on increasing early reading proficiency.
The ImpactTulsa partnership of education professionals and stakeholders are developing action plans.
What we know:
- Students from economically disadvantaged households across the region are a full grade level behind their peers in reading proficiency.
- 4,557 students (or 53%) across the region are not proficient readers by the end of 3rd grade.
- 83% of English Language Learners (ELL) students are non-proficient readers by the end of 3rd grade.
- 75% of students not reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.
While the data can seem overwhelming, it gives us a clear understanding of both our bright spots and insight as to how we can share best practices across our region to address our challenges. The Ready to Read partnership is already working to build that pipeline to student reading proficiency by the end of the 3rd grade. Our early activity has included digging into the data on chronic absenteeism, pushing for a universal metric to assess the readiness of kindergartners entering school, working with colleges and universities to address the issue of aligning education curriculum to ensure teachers have the training they need to succeed in the classroom.
Tulsa’s first Literacy Lunch brought together multiple stakeholders who are working in early literacy and helping kids from birth to third grade build home libraries.
The partnership is also working on special projects to address summer slide and working to expand evidence-based reading interventions all in an effort to increase reading proficiency throughout our region and help Tulsa’s children be successful students.
We welcome your questions and participation!
by Autumn Worten, Director of Partner Engagement
Ready to join the partnership? Click here!
Sources: Scholastic Reading Counts and ImpactTulsa data analysis