Question #3
As 82% of the black students read below grade level, what is the plan to target reading effort in the black community?
Doyle Costello District #1
One of the first things we need to do to target the black community is to get as many kids into the pre-k programs. I would like to reach out to community leadership and start a push program. We need to make sure that pediatricians are sharing the importance of reading to children by both parents. Also community leadership can bring volunteers into the schools to read or mentor the kids or work in small groups with the students in need.
Keith S. Gryboski District #1
Just look at the test data. Do not be afraid to say 82% of black students are reading below grade level. Do not be afraid to say we as a community, are failing those students. It does not have to be this way, and as proven by the districts own admission that the gap has existed for over 17 years, all those buzz word filed initiatives have been just that, empty words with no concrete solutions. I know when I put a book in a student’s hand, tell them why they need to be able to read what is in the book to accomplish the problem I have them working on, I see a desire. It pains me, we I see them turn away because they have been indoctrinated that they will never succeed. The message must change. It starts with the student. They must want to read. They must want to seek out the help. This is something you can not force on them. In the music projects I work on, we use rap as the platform. The only difference is the content. As I like to say, what ever you put together, the test will be to see if your grandmother does not box your ears once she has heard your poetry. Its all about directing their energy. Social media is destroying our generation.
Elizabeth Moffly District #2
This goes back to standards. All four of my children struggeled with reading. They could read words that they could see pictures like dog, cat, bag. It was the conjunctive words of how, what, who, they, which that they required repetion in the ELA curriculum. We require first graders to know words like instruction, direction, completion which are compound and scare our youngest readers.
Sarah Shad Johnson District #2
More than ten years ago, I co-founded an education group that opposes high stakes testing and school privatization, but supports proven reform efforts such as quality pre-school programs, smaller class size, and parental outreach/involvement.
While the school district may have some success in partnering with community groups to promote reading in areas most needed, they need a stronger plan for supporting the classroom. Instead of constantly churning principals and repeatedly testing out shiny new initiatives on struggling schools, the school district needs to return to its role of support. Our teachers are on the front lines and are able to identify problems and solutions.
Teachers in our struggling schools have often asked for smaller class size, two teachers per classroom, and extra support/wraparound services. They have asked for improved discipline plans and better mental health support for students. Meanwhile, our school board has spent the last several years proposing a variety of new governance plans that benefits no one, especially not our students.
I understand that teaching and learning happen in the classroom, so we need a school board that directs the school district to do its job by actually supporting the needs of the schools. There is no silver bullet, but the solution is not as complicated as the road our school district has gone down with an overload of consultants and unpopular plans to bring in third-party school operators.
Seana J. Flynn District #2
This is a two fold problem: First, we have failed multiple generations of Black students and, thus, have lost the trust of the parents and/or guardians. Second, we need to provide a quality education that offers the same opportunities to all students. This involves sending quality teachers to "At Risk" schools instead of using these schools as a dumping ground. And, again, we MUST lower the student-teacher ratio, especially in "At Risk" schools.
Grace Bouldin Cowan District #2
Did not respond
Ed Kelly District #2
Did not respond
EJ Milligan District #2
Did not respond
Chris Collins District #3
Hold the school district to a higher standard for minority students.
Pam Mckinney District #3
Did not respond
Thomas Ravenell District #3
Did not respond
Ashley Peele District #3
Instilling diversity, equity, and inclusion principles throughout our school district is an important step. We also need to ensure there are teachers that look like the student community that they are serving. And as we consider support for the whole student, we need to understand the unique needs of each of our students of color and ensure resources are available to address mental health and well-being, special learning needs, behavioral support, and any other non-educational factor that may impact the student's ability to thrive.
Courtney Waters District #4
The board needs to set clear goals that name black students specifically. What gets prioritized changes. If we name what needs to be true, spend our resources and ensure policies are in support of that, we will have positive impact. At the district level, we need a strong superintendent who will prioritize retention of strong teachers in our schools that most need them, incentivize performance and create overall strong school cultures that are responsive to the needs, experiences and perspectives of the students they serve. The fact is that the system of education was not created to effectively educate black students - the curriculum, the culture, the lack of black educators and more all work against yielding strong results with black students. We need to address the system of supports in schools black students attend, and ensure the finances, goals and policies of the district focus on moving the needle for them.
Kevin D Hollinshead District #4
When we stick to a viable and allow teachers to allow teachers to perfect their skillset to implement/teach the curriculum, we can impact low achievement . We need to have staff with the right mindset and address our system flaws. Then, we will impact the achievement gap that is persistent in our schools.
Melissa Couture District #5
This is not my are of expertise but I imagine giving teachers more attitude to teach what the students need to excel will help, along with stressing the importance of reading in the home.
Vivian S Pettigrew District #5
Use our financial resources to engage communities.
Ask parent what we can do to help the to help their child to bridge the gap.
provide grant funds for community centers to have better after school help programs
offer kaleidoscope help for struggling students free with employee assigned for these specific students.
Summer enrichment for all struggling students
Carlotte M. Bailey District #5
Did not respond
Erica Cokley District #6
Did not respond
Eric Thome District #6
Did not respond
Samuel Whatley II District #6
Did not respond
Lee Runyon District #6
We must increase the availability of high interest reading materials for this sub-group in all schools. I believe that every school should create a Student Reading Council as a working sub-committee of their School Improvement Councils. Students of all diversity groups should be tasked with assisting in the recommendation of strategies that will better engage peers in reading success. I believe parents must also be engaged through community outreach, home visits and community partnership activities. As well, we must create locally Board approved Reading Courses offered at all schools in which students work on Reading curriculum as a stand alone course that we as a district require acceptable growth (one or more years Fall to Spring or On-Grade Level) for promotion.
Sydney van Bulck District #7
This may be a controversial answer, but it is an honest one. After working in a Title 1 school that implemented the EL curriculum, it was obvious that the growth for our students was undeniable. We need to address the racial biases that are ingrained in how we have always taught literacy in the past. EL is an incredible first step for this. However, this adds an incredible amount of work for teachers. We need to make sure that we are giving teachers support in ways that don't add more pressure, but ease some of that burden. There are also groups within our community that come into our schools to work with students. Reading Partners is a great resource that many schools already take advantage of.
Jennifer Mieras District #7
It is critical that schools engage with these students’ families to better understand why each student isn’t excelling in reading. This communication process needs to be delivered in a positive and proactive manner, without judgment. Once needs and challenges are assessed, wrap-around services and community partnerships will also play a key role in building the additional support network needed for these students and their families. Once established, the school and community must make sure that students and families are aware of and understand the programs and resources now available to assess and eliminate the barriers to reading fluency that students may face. Additionally, I support universal pre-K.
Joy Brown District #7
Class sizes need to be smaller, especially in schools where students need the most help. We need more wrap around services to promote the all around social emotional health of our schools. It's important to have address mental and behavioral health to promote an environment condusive to learning.
Leah Whatley District #7
Did not respond
Travis Bedson District #8
Did not respond
Helen Davis-Frazier District #8
First, there must be recognition that the disparities in educational outcomes between Black, Hispanic and white students exist because of long-standing racism and lack of community response to the problem. Even though we were alarmed with the findings of studies from Clemson and the College of Charleston, there was still a lack of commitment from our elected officials, businesses, and members of the community. In an effort to address disparities, there must be overwhelming and purposeful commitment from all stakeholders. This is not just a Black problem. It's a problem stemming from years of neglect and lack of concern from the very people who justify and point fingers. The plan must be one of boldness and innovation-not just the adoption and implementation of one curriculum. Reading starts in the homes and now we have students graduating from high school who are being taught by Face Book, Google and Tic Tock. Students who do not understand and perform cursive writing, how to write a paragraph or complete an essay for a college application. To stimulate the minds of our Black children, we must be willing to sit at the table with members of the Black community and others to engage in the process of eradicating dysfunctional behaviors of poor self esteem, poverty and violence.
Doris Johnson Distrcit #8
Provide a reading and writing club by taking away the tablets, causing them to think on their and incentives for reading.
Develop a reading laboratory with teachers specializing in critical reading, removing all electronics. Go back to basic, place children in whatever grade level they are reading at that particular period.
To develop a critical reading Laboratory across the district.
Darlene Dunmeyer District #8
Parents in the rural community who are reading deficient struggle to help their students with reading, perpetuating the cycle of illiteracy. Schools should be intentional with parent-community relationship efforts. This might include having more open-door policy at schools so that parents feel welcomed, hosting parent nights that include personal growth workshops such as diploma/certificate attainment, interviewing skills for job attainment, and strategies for supporting your children. Implementation of mentoring programs where black professionals are engaged with black students. Students greatly benefit from seeing an example of success in someone who looks like them.
Dr. Carol Tempel Distrcit #9
Implement with fidelity a standardized, research-based curriculum across the district or at least within the school and it’s feeder system, align standards with curriculum and resource materials, use research and promising best instructional practices, have interventionists and tutors for struggling students who are not meeting the standard, analyze MAP data to personalize literacy instruction, have expectations that students will meet the SC Profile of a Graduate, intergrate non-fiction in science and social studies. In the District 20 ESSER collaborative proposal, most of these practices are included along with Family Coaches who can partner with families to help students succeed.
Forest Bjork District #9
Did not respond
Graham Smith District #9
Did not respond
As 82% of the black students read below grade level, what is the plan to target reading effort in the black community?
Doyle Costello District #1
One of the first things we need to do to target the black community is to get as many kids into the pre-k programs. I would like to reach out to community leadership and start a push program. We need to make sure that pediatricians are sharing the importance of reading to children by both parents. Also community leadership can bring volunteers into the schools to read or mentor the kids or work in small groups with the students in need.
Keith S. Gryboski District #1
Just look at the test data. Do not be afraid to say 82% of black students are reading below grade level. Do not be afraid to say we as a community, are failing those students. It does not have to be this way, and as proven by the districts own admission that the gap has existed for over 17 years, all those buzz word filed initiatives have been just that, empty words with no concrete solutions. I know when I put a book in a student’s hand, tell them why they need to be able to read what is in the book to accomplish the problem I have them working on, I see a desire. It pains me, we I see them turn away because they have been indoctrinated that they will never succeed. The message must change. It starts with the student. They must want to read. They must want to seek out the help. This is something you can not force on them. In the music projects I work on, we use rap as the platform. The only difference is the content. As I like to say, what ever you put together, the test will be to see if your grandmother does not box your ears once she has heard your poetry. Its all about directing their energy. Social media is destroying our generation.
Elizabeth Moffly District #2
This goes back to standards. All four of my children struggeled with reading. They could read words that they could see pictures like dog, cat, bag. It was the conjunctive words of how, what, who, they, which that they required repetion in the ELA curriculum. We require first graders to know words like instruction, direction, completion which are compound and scare our youngest readers.
Sarah Shad Johnson District #2
More than ten years ago, I co-founded an education group that opposes high stakes testing and school privatization, but supports proven reform efforts such as quality pre-school programs, smaller class size, and parental outreach/involvement.
While the school district may have some success in partnering with community groups to promote reading in areas most needed, they need a stronger plan for supporting the classroom. Instead of constantly churning principals and repeatedly testing out shiny new initiatives on struggling schools, the school district needs to return to its role of support. Our teachers are on the front lines and are able to identify problems and solutions.
Teachers in our struggling schools have often asked for smaller class size, two teachers per classroom, and extra support/wraparound services. They have asked for improved discipline plans and better mental health support for students. Meanwhile, our school board has spent the last several years proposing a variety of new governance plans that benefits no one, especially not our students.
I understand that teaching and learning happen in the classroom, so we need a school board that directs the school district to do its job by actually supporting the needs of the schools. There is no silver bullet, but the solution is not as complicated as the road our school district has gone down with an overload of consultants and unpopular plans to bring in third-party school operators.
Seana J. Flynn District #2
This is a two fold problem: First, we have failed multiple generations of Black students and, thus, have lost the trust of the parents and/or guardians. Second, we need to provide a quality education that offers the same opportunities to all students. This involves sending quality teachers to "At Risk" schools instead of using these schools as a dumping ground. And, again, we MUST lower the student-teacher ratio, especially in "At Risk" schools.
Grace Bouldin Cowan District #2
Did not respond
Ed Kelly District #2
Did not respond
EJ Milligan District #2
Did not respond
Chris Collins District #3
Hold the school district to a higher standard for minority students.
Pam Mckinney District #3
Did not respond
Thomas Ravenell District #3
Did not respond
Ashley Peele District #3
Instilling diversity, equity, and inclusion principles throughout our school district is an important step. We also need to ensure there are teachers that look like the student community that they are serving. And as we consider support for the whole student, we need to understand the unique needs of each of our students of color and ensure resources are available to address mental health and well-being, special learning needs, behavioral support, and any other non-educational factor that may impact the student's ability to thrive.
Courtney Waters District #4
The board needs to set clear goals that name black students specifically. What gets prioritized changes. If we name what needs to be true, spend our resources and ensure policies are in support of that, we will have positive impact. At the district level, we need a strong superintendent who will prioritize retention of strong teachers in our schools that most need them, incentivize performance and create overall strong school cultures that are responsive to the needs, experiences and perspectives of the students they serve. The fact is that the system of education was not created to effectively educate black students - the curriculum, the culture, the lack of black educators and more all work against yielding strong results with black students. We need to address the system of supports in schools black students attend, and ensure the finances, goals and policies of the district focus on moving the needle for them.
Kevin D Hollinshead District #4
When we stick to a viable and allow teachers to allow teachers to perfect their skillset to implement/teach the curriculum, we can impact low achievement . We need to have staff with the right mindset and address our system flaws. Then, we will impact the achievement gap that is persistent in our schools.
Melissa Couture District #5
This is not my are of expertise but I imagine giving teachers more attitude to teach what the students need to excel will help, along with stressing the importance of reading in the home.
Vivian S Pettigrew District #5
Use our financial resources to engage communities.
Ask parent what we can do to help the to help their child to bridge the gap.
provide grant funds for community centers to have better after school help programs
offer kaleidoscope help for struggling students free with employee assigned for these specific students.
Summer enrichment for all struggling students
Carlotte M. Bailey District #5
Did not respond
Erica Cokley District #6
Did not respond
Eric Thome District #6
Did not respond
Samuel Whatley II District #6
Did not respond
Lee Runyon District #6
We must increase the availability of high interest reading materials for this sub-group in all schools. I believe that every school should create a Student Reading Council as a working sub-committee of their School Improvement Councils. Students of all diversity groups should be tasked with assisting in the recommendation of strategies that will better engage peers in reading success. I believe parents must also be engaged through community outreach, home visits and community partnership activities. As well, we must create locally Board approved Reading Courses offered at all schools in which students work on Reading curriculum as a stand alone course that we as a district require acceptable growth (one or more years Fall to Spring or On-Grade Level) for promotion.
Sydney van Bulck District #7
This may be a controversial answer, but it is an honest one. After working in a Title 1 school that implemented the EL curriculum, it was obvious that the growth for our students was undeniable. We need to address the racial biases that are ingrained in how we have always taught literacy in the past. EL is an incredible first step for this. However, this adds an incredible amount of work for teachers. We need to make sure that we are giving teachers support in ways that don't add more pressure, but ease some of that burden. There are also groups within our community that come into our schools to work with students. Reading Partners is a great resource that many schools already take advantage of.
Jennifer Mieras District #7
It is critical that schools engage with these students’ families to better understand why each student isn’t excelling in reading. This communication process needs to be delivered in a positive and proactive manner, without judgment. Once needs and challenges are assessed, wrap-around services and community partnerships will also play a key role in building the additional support network needed for these students and their families. Once established, the school and community must make sure that students and families are aware of and understand the programs and resources now available to assess and eliminate the barriers to reading fluency that students may face. Additionally, I support universal pre-K.
Joy Brown District #7
Class sizes need to be smaller, especially in schools where students need the most help. We need more wrap around services to promote the all around social emotional health of our schools. It's important to have address mental and behavioral health to promote an environment condusive to learning.
Leah Whatley District #7
Did not respond
Travis Bedson District #8
Did not respond
Helen Davis-Frazier District #8
First, there must be recognition that the disparities in educational outcomes between Black, Hispanic and white students exist because of long-standing racism and lack of community response to the problem. Even though we were alarmed with the findings of studies from Clemson and the College of Charleston, there was still a lack of commitment from our elected officials, businesses, and members of the community. In an effort to address disparities, there must be overwhelming and purposeful commitment from all stakeholders. This is not just a Black problem. It's a problem stemming from years of neglect and lack of concern from the very people who justify and point fingers. The plan must be one of boldness and innovation-not just the adoption and implementation of one curriculum. Reading starts in the homes and now we have students graduating from high school who are being taught by Face Book, Google and Tic Tock. Students who do not understand and perform cursive writing, how to write a paragraph or complete an essay for a college application. To stimulate the minds of our Black children, we must be willing to sit at the table with members of the Black community and others to engage in the process of eradicating dysfunctional behaviors of poor self esteem, poverty and violence.
Doris Johnson Distrcit #8
Provide a reading and writing club by taking away the tablets, causing them to think on their and incentives for reading.
Develop a reading laboratory with teachers specializing in critical reading, removing all electronics. Go back to basic, place children in whatever grade level they are reading at that particular period.
To develop a critical reading Laboratory across the district.
Darlene Dunmeyer District #8
Parents in the rural community who are reading deficient struggle to help their students with reading, perpetuating the cycle of illiteracy. Schools should be intentional with parent-community relationship efforts. This might include having more open-door policy at schools so that parents feel welcomed, hosting parent nights that include personal growth workshops such as diploma/certificate attainment, interviewing skills for job attainment, and strategies for supporting your children. Implementation of mentoring programs where black professionals are engaged with black students. Students greatly benefit from seeing an example of success in someone who looks like them.
Dr. Carol Tempel Distrcit #9
Implement with fidelity a standardized, research-based curriculum across the district or at least within the school and it’s feeder system, align standards with curriculum and resource materials, use research and promising best instructional practices, have interventionists and tutors for struggling students who are not meeting the standard, analyze MAP data to personalize literacy instruction, have expectations that students will meet the SC Profile of a Graduate, intergrate non-fiction in science and social studies. In the District 20 ESSER collaborative proposal, most of these practices are included along with Family Coaches who can partner with families to help students succeed.
Forest Bjork District #9
Did not respond
Graham Smith District #9
Did not respond