CMS Superintendent, Ann Clark
At the beginning of the
2015-2016 school year, we
launched a literacy initiative,
with particular emphasis on
grades three, seven and 12.
Nothing that we teach our
students is more important.
Literacy – the ability to read,
comprehend, speak, listen
and learn from the written
and spoken word – is the seminal skill required for a child’s success
from kindergarten all the way to a diploma, the skill that enables
every student to learn and grow along their educational journey.
That’s the reason we call literacy our North Star – and it is.
As the school year progresses, we are expanding our North Star
literacy initiative by asking our employees and the community to help
us promote literacy at all grade levels.
Our North Star Reading Partners program seeks to engage the
18,000 employees of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and members of
the community in working directly with students. We are asking our
employees and the community to mentor, tutor and volunteer in our
schools, working with individual students.
The North Star Reading Partners program is also designed to
bring community and business volunteers into schools to work with
individual students on a one-to-one basis so that every student
acquires the skills needed for literacy.
Why are we asking for such broad-based participation? Because
each student has individual needs. Some students need more help
than others. To comprehensively address the individual needs of each
student is not always possible in a classroom.
Our experience, as well as research data, shows that individual
attention and mentoring can make a critical difference in how much
students learn. Strong, effective public education benefits everyone
in our community, so we are asking members of the
community to help us provide the best education to
every student.
Research shows that a child who is reading
on grade level by the end of third grade has a far
better chance of graduating than one who is not
reading on grade level. Reading, writing, speaking
and understanding are the foundation for academic
achievement from pre-kindergarten through
graduation and beyond.
To help our volunteers be most effective and support existing
curriculum, we are providing instructional guidelines and support for
each mentor. We are also asking that each volunteer