Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler wants to make sure every child is reading at grade level before leaving third grade, and end the practice of “social promotion” if they are not.
Peeler today introduced the “Read to Succeed” program, modeled after a successful initiative implemented first by Governor Jeb Bush in Florida in 2001. South Carolina’s program, cosponsored by Senators John Courson, Wes Hayes, and Mike Fair, would:
- Have a readiness screening done on children in 4k and 5k to identify potential learning barriers
- Provide intensive in-class and supplemental reading instruction, including summer reading camps
- Revise in-service requirements so that teachers and soon-to-be-teachers will know how to teach reading skills
- Beginning in 2015-2016 school year, if a 3rd grader cannot read on level, they would be retained.
Believing that prevention is more effective that remediation, the bill calls for taking a portion of the $6 million earmarked for reading improvement under the EIA for the program.
“Reading is the foundation of all academic success. When is comes to education, when you hear the term ‘reading, writing and arithmetic,’ there is a reason ‘reading’ comes first,” Peeler said. “While there have been improvements, South Carolina continues to lag behind on early childhood reading. I believe this bill will be a step toward fixing that.”
Dear Senator Peeler,
I commend you for being concerned about the children of SC and the need for effective, early intervention for reading difficulties. I serve on the National Board of Directors for the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) and on the Board of Directors for LDA of SC and the SC Branch of the International Dyslexia Association. I also served during 2012 on the SC Dyslexia Task Force. We submitted our report in January and you can access it at the following link: http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/documents/Dyslexia_Task_Force_Report.pdf
I have been teaching children who struggle with reading for the past 28 years and currently run a private practice in Aiken, SC. I would like to invite you to a screening of an HBO movie titled: “The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia”, next Tues., 3/19, at 5:30 p.m. at the Nickelodeon Theater in Columbia, SC. There will be a panel discussion after the film and I have been told that Dr. Zais will be participating. The reason that this is an important topic is that one in every five to 10 students is struggling with a dyslexic type reading difficulty. They struggle to master the sound system of English and to acquire accurate and automatic recognition of words. This begins a downward spiral of difficulty in reading. The vast majority (all but a very small percentage) can be helped to get “back on track” with reading during the early grades with the right kind of remediation for a long enough time. Most teachers do not know the phonetic structure of English or how to teach it to a student that does not understand. This is not taught in schools of Education or in schools of Special Education. Please read the report of the task force: we all served at our own expense and during our own time last year. Consider attending the movie next Tuesday. I would enjoy meeting with you and sharing more about dyslexia and why many children struggle with beginning reading. Everyone wants an “easy” answer: believe me, it’s not easy to teach children who struggle, but it’s possible and it’s worth every minute! They have incredible gifts and different type of brains: our state cannot afford to waste their talents!
Dear Senate Majority Leader Peeler,
I am a Dyslexia Screening Specialist with the Horry County Literacy Council. Before you introduce such a Bill, perhaps you should consider the Task Force Report that emanates from Dr. Mick Zais regarding Dyslexia. It should be at the House of Representative as we speak. Children should be reading a grade level in the First Grade, not the Third Grade. By then, it is too late to have them recover from a reading difficulty. 20% of our population has Dyslexia, that is one in five children. Too large a number to ignore. If these children at risk were tested and evaluated in preK , K and first grade, we would see our reading scores jump precipitously. Please feel free to contact me at the HC Literacy Council for more information or perhaps we can arrange a meeting for discussion. My office number is 843-839-1695 or my cell number is 906-908-2090. Thank you for your future considerations on this matter.
Patricia Santaniello,
Program Coordinator and
Dyslexia Screening Specialist
Horry County Literacy Council
3101 Oak Street
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577