Early Grade Reading

Vision

All students complete third grade in Kenosha County reading at grade level

The Need

Third-grade reading proficiency is the most important predictor of high school graduation and career success.

Through third grade, children are learning the basic foundations of reading. It's after this point that students need to use these reading foundations to understand increasingly complex material.

These disparities noted in literacy by third grade are linked to persistent gaps later in life. Ensuring early-grade reading proficiency ensures the future success of our community, as our children will be prepared to enter the military or the workforce, go on to achieve postsecondary credentials, and compete in the global economy.

Bright Spots

Title I Cohort
As a follow-on to BOF’s participation in StriveTogether’s Equitable Results Series—in partnership with KUSD and Kenosha Public Library—BOF launched a Title I Cohort in January 2021 that convened five Title I elementary schools. Using a cohort-based model, principals and instructional coaches from Brass Community School, Curtis Strange, Frank, Grant, and Wilson elementary schools met throughout the Spring 2021 semester to create more equitable, data-driven systems that improve early grade reading outcomes and close disparity gaps. The cohort built capability around Results Count and worked toward a common result: supporting first-grade students in reading at grade level. Results of the Cohort were promising:

One school increased its overall reading proficiency by 33 percentage points (6% to 39%) and its proficiency of Black students by 23 percentage points (0% to 23%). Eighty percent of this school’s target students moved to proficient.
Another school increased its overall reading proficiency by 30 percentage points (33% to 63%) and its proficiency of Black students by 43 percentage points (43% to 86%). One hundred percent of this school’s target students moved to proficient.

Learn more about Building Our Future's participation in the Equitable Results Series Part 1 and Part 2.

The relationship between BOF and Brass has stayed strong throughout the pandemic. Whether it’s the work happening during the Lincoln Park CommUNITY Conversations or the support offered through the Title I reading group, BOF has stood as an amazing conduit between the community and Brass Community School."
- Joel Kaufmann, Principal, Brass Community School

Brass & Wilson Supports
In alignment with BOF’s CommUNITY Conversations in the Lincoln Park and Wilson Heights neighborhoods, BOF continued to support Brass Community School and Wilson Elementary. In 2021, these supports included:

Principals from both schools continued with BOF’s Title I Cohort into the Fall 2021 semester, accessing thought partnership and coaching support.
Partnering with United Way of Kenosha County to relaunch its Readers Are Leaders program in the 2021-2022 school year, which provides one-on-one tutoring during the school day at Brass and during the YMCA’s after-school Achievers program at Wilson.
Connecting each school with an additional layer of early literacy support from Wisconsin Reading Corps, where trained tutors are placed in elementary schools to work one-on-one with students to provide individualized tutoring support to boost literacy skills.

Wisconsin Reading Corps
In 2021-2022, Wisconsin Reading Corps launched as a new literacy support at Brass Community School and Wilson Elementary School. Wisconsin Reading Corps is a nationally replicated, evidence-based model that trains tutors to places them in elementary schools to work one-on-one with students to provide individualized tutoring support to boost literacy skills. During its first school year, two tutors each were placed at Brass Community School and Wilson Elementary (four total), logging 1,123 hours of tutoring across 3,400 individual sessions for 54 KUSD students kindergarten through third grade. After a year of tutoring, 60.4% of students receiving Reading Corps support exceeded their target growth. The program is set to expand to two additional KUSD schools in 2022-23, Grewenow and Jefferson, as well as Riverview School in Silver Lake. BOF played a critical role over the last several years to understand the impact of the program, champion expansion to Kenosha, and connect this resource with schools.

We LOVE the Reading Corps program and the two tutors we have at Wilson. The program is extremely well designed, implemented, and monitored for high quality and impact. The 20 students we have receiving the support are showing gains at a rapid pace and look forward to their daily sessions with their tutors."
- Rhonda Lopez, Principal, Wilson Elementary

Readers Are Leaders
In 2017, Building Our Future began partnering with United Way of Kenosha County to expand the McKinley Tutoring Program, now known as Readers are Leaders, to three more schools: Forest Park Elementary, Wilson Elementary, and Brass Community School. The program connects business leaders and community volunteers with kindergarten through third-grade students to provide twice-weekly literacy tutoring, providing the much-needed support and practice for students at risk of falling behind. In 2021-2022, BOF partnered with the United Way of Kenosha County to relaunch Readers Are Leaders in three schools.

For more data and analysis, visit https://www.buildingourfuturekc.org/school-success1.html