By Janell Williams
A groundbreaking literacy and numeracy initiative has been announced in an effort to bolster education and equip students with essential skills for the future. It promises to revolutionize the way these fundamental subjects are taught across Columbus.
The initiative, spearheaded by a coalition of educators, policymakers, and industry experts, seeks to address the growing concern surrounding student literacy and numeracy levels. Recent studies have highlighted a concerning trend of declining proficiency in these areas, raising alarms about the potential long-term impact on the workforce and society at large.
Based on individual student screening, Georgia Milestones Assessment and College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI) data over the past several years, there is a disproportionally large number of children entering school below grade level in the critically essential areas of literacy and numeracy who attend Dorothy Height, Brewer, Martin Luther King, Jr. and J.D. Davis Elementary Schools. This leaves them struggling academically to catch up with their peers.
The core objectives of the initiative will be to work in concert with parents, the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy, Muscogee County School District (MCSD) and other community partners to develop and implement a Pre-K through Grade 2 literacy and numeracy acceleration center for the qualifying children of Dorothy Height, Brewer, Martin Luther King, Jr. and J.D. Davis Elementary Schools for the purpose of ensuring that they are equipped and empowered for their future success.
“We want to make sure that we have the best teachers that we can possibly find who are dedicated to this work and can help to improve their students so that by the time they go into third grade, they are reading to learn. I really want to emphasize and underscore that this is not a remediation program. It’s an acceleration program,” said Superintendent of Education David Lewis.
Advocates of the initiative aim to set a standard for success that can be replicated in Muscogee County and throughout the state. Brewer Elementary School will be repurposed to serve as a dedicated K-2 intensive literacy and numeracy site. Students currently attending Brewer who will not be a part of the initiative will be rezoned to attend either Dorothy Height, Martin Luther King, Jr., or J.D. Davis schools based on proximity.
The initiative will be free of charge to participating parents and students. The district will also provide transportation to and from the learning site. Current Brewer Elementary educators will be displaced and have the opportunity to re-apply for positions at the literacy and numeracy center site, along with other applicants, based on degree, certification, successful experience and a commitment to additional professional learning and compensated after-hours time for individual and small-group tutoring, mentoring and parent conferencing. All current educators of the aforementioned four schools who have been extended a contract for the 2024-2025 school year will be retained and placed in an equivalent contracted position within the MCSD.
“We encourage parents and educators to come into the school and speak with us about questions. We have begun to host parent sessions to get feedback. We know it’s a change, but we are willing to embrace it. We are all excited for the difference it will make in the community,” said Kaprice Bentley-Brown, the principal of the Early Literacy and Numeracy Initiative site.
Funding for the new initiative will include $1.2 million for a reduced student-teacher ratio, additional support staff, and professional training. In addition to reallocating current local resources, the cost will be further covered by leveraging $600,000 of available state funding, $200,000 from federal entitlement funds, and financial investments by the United Way and Georgia Department of Education.
“We are very excited. We know we will begin to see an impact right away, but we hope to see it on a full scope within the next three to four years,” said Lewis.