ENC schools seek to boost student literacy

Carteret County — Carteret County Schools are trying to make sure that students improve their reading skills after seeing a high number of students struggle in 1st through 3rd grade during the 2021-22 school semester.

Carteret County Schools Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Johnson said the school district is doing everything in its power to build reading proficiency in their schools by monitoring each student throughout the year.

As summer break comes to an end, and back to school begins, some parents are worried about their students' reading levels because of mixed learning methods with in-person, and virtual learning due to the pandemic.

"I worry as a parent” Said Laura Parish, a mother of a second grader, “As an administrator, it is a concern that we have students coming in a grade level, and sometimes two grade levels behind."

Savannah Livesay, another parent, echoed her concern, "It's concerning because they're going to fall behind other kids."

Over the summer, the county did offer an optional reading camp. Johnson said they saw tremendous growth with the students who attended.

"We have many tools in our toolboxes to address reading proficiencies.” Johnson said, “Our teachers have professional learning communities where we look at data at individual students. We really assess each of our students' needs to see where they are and what they need. We bring reading instruction coaches. We have instructional coaches now for each of our schools helping our teachers with reading instruction."

Parents said they are confident this year will be better and are grateful for everything the county is doing.

According to Livesay, "What was so great about the 'Reading to Achieve Camp' for my daughter was that she doesn't love to read but they were able to do small groups lessons with her to make it a little more fun."

Johnson said Carteret County Schools will also be doing a new training called 'Science through Reading' to help each student improve this year.