Local school attempting to raise student literacy rates

Little Rock, Arkansas – On Wednesday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders unveiled her Arkansas LEARNS strategy, which included increasing reading rates for students in Arkansas schools.

According to her plan, only 35% of children in Arkansas are reading at grade level.

The Little Rock School District’s K-2 Literacy Lead, Carrie Manning, stated that they have already started working with their pupils on raising their reading levels.

“We are always working on serval initiatives because we want to make students proficient at the earliest rate possible,” said Manning while at Western Hills Elementary School on Friday.

Lexia, a program that assists in teaching pupils how to read, write, and communicate, is one of these initiatives.

“The students are on that for 30 to 40 minutes a day,” Manning said. “This helps raise the reading levels by targeting specific skills and standards to move up from one level to another.”

Children must read at a third-grade level in order to move on to the fourth grade, according to the Arkansas LEARNS initiative.

Studies have shown that being able to read efficiently has various advantages, including improved critical thinking abilities and understanding.

“If you don’t have the fluency to be able to decode words then that impedes your comprehension.,” Manning said. “We all know that in the work forces today that we are looking for people who can think and problem solve quickly so it’s very important to be able to read on your grade level.”

Manning offered advice on how to encourage your youngster to read more fluently.

“They say 20 minutes a day of reading with your child or your child reading by themselves will consistently help them grow,” said Manning. “If you want to grow them over several grade-level spans I would suggest about 40 minutes a day.”