In 2016, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said she wanted to double the percentage of the state’s third graders reading at grade level by 2025. That’s an ambitious goal, considering only 40 percent of the state’s third graders scored proficient or higher on the reading portion of state exams in 2017.
But help is on the way.
Kate Lentz, director of the Rhode Island Center for the Book initiative and a former librarian, has launched Raising Readers in Rhode Island, a program looking to create access to book ownership among K-3, low-income students in an effort to improve reading rates.
Lentz and her project were recently named one of three recipients of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Carter Fellowship for Entrepreneurial Innovation, which comes with a $200,000 grant over the next four years.
“The number one indicator of high school graduation is a child’s ability to read on grade level by third grade, which is why I want to focus on K-3,” Lentz told Rhode Island Inno. “My focus is on access to books, because that is the first step.”
Raising Readers will partner with another organization, called Rhode Island Latino Art, that already has a program where every May they nominate eight books for students K-5. Students then vote on a winning book, which is recommended to librarians and educators across the state to push out to students.
Raising Readers plans to purchase thousands of copies of those eight books nominated by Rhode Island Latino Art and distribute them for free to students in the Providence, Central Falls, Woonsocket and Pawtucket communities (potentially Newport County as well).
In addition to distributing the books, Lentz said she also plans to provide programming such as bringing authors to schools, creating theatre programs and making resource guides for teachers, among other programming.
“My focus is on access to books, because that is the first step.”
Lentz saw a need for Raising Readers while working for the Rhode Island Center for the Book, which also chooses one book annually for students in the state to read.
“No matter how many books we supplied, it was never enough,” she said, adding that she got really inspired when Gov. Raimondo asked the public for help on the third grade reading initiative. “Access to books is a barrier to closing the literacy gap.”
According to Lentz, children nationally who do not read proficiently by end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers.
And despite the push by many public schools to close the tech gap, there is still a need and desire for print books.
“I’ve been listening to teachers and librarians across the state and what they are hearing from students is that they would prefer the printed text,” said Lentz. “Print funding isn’t what it used to be.”
Lentz said she plans to leverage the grant from the carter fellowship to hopefully get more funding and make Raising Readers in Rhode Island sustainable long-term.
But with the grant, Lentz feels she is off to a good start.
So many people are willing to help based on the grant,” she said. “People I don’t even know have been emailing me with connections. They are waiting for directions on how they can help.”
