Literacy plan presented to board

Charleston County students who can't read at grade level would be required to participate in intervention programs, and their refusal to do so would mean they wouldn't be promoted to the next grade.

That's the key element of a new, comprehensive literacy plan presented on Tuesday by Charleston County schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley. She described what likely would be a multimillion-dollar proposal to the school board's policy committee, which has created a draft of a first-ever district policy that outlines its expectations for students' reading ability. The board doesn't have such a policy but decided to create one after a series of newspaper articles exposed the serious illiteracy problem in local schools. Nearly 20 percent of the county's ninth-graders read on a fourth-grade level or worse.

The committee's draft policy calls for establishing literacy as the highest educational priority in the district, and requiring every student reading below grade level to receive targeted help.

The district would have to report the number of students reading below grade level annually, and it also would have to identify the programs, staff and money needed to improve students' reading.

One of the more significant parts of the draft policy is that it would require the superintendent to implement a systemic plan to identify and address students' reading deficiencies. Although the policy hasn't even been vetted before the full board, McGinley already had a proposal for what she would do if it passes, and she presented that to the committee Tuesday.

Her plan calls for all pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students to be screened this spring using the same test to determine their school readiness. Those students would be separated into two groups -- those reading at grade level and those reading below grade level.

Those who are on track would progress to the next grade, while those who are behind would be required to attend a summer program next year in an attempt to catch them up.

Students who made enough improvement in the summer program would be allowed to move on to the next grade without extra help, and those who still aren't reading at grade level would be promoted but separated into two groups -- those needing intensive, one-on-one help and those in need of small-group assistance.

Students who are behind in reading would be in special classes in which teachers would focus solely on math and literacy; teachers would not have to teach the curriculum standards in science or social studies, McGinley said. Students would be assessed the following spring to determine whether they still needed serious literacy help or whether they are at grade level.

The intervention program would expand by one grade each year, she said.

For older students, McGinley would like to use the Sixth Grade Academy in North Charleston as a model and replicate it in two other areas.

That would ensure that students entering middle school also are receiving much-needed literacy support, she said.

It's critical for the school board to have in its policy that students reading below grade level who don't participate in these programs wouldn't be passed to the next grade, McGinley said. If not, parents could choose not to send their children to these programs without penalty.

The district eventually would get to a point where it's not promoting kids who can't read, she said.

"We're not doing them any favors (by promoting them)," she said.

McGinley didn't have a price tag for her proposal, but she plans to have one by the time she presents it at the next school board meeting. The board also will see a first draft of the proposed literacy policy at its next meeting, and it will eventually have to decide whether and how to fund McGinley's plan.

"There isn't anything more important than this," said policy committee member Gregg Meyers.

Reach Diette Courrégé at dcourrege@postandcourier.com or 937-5546.