THE PROBLEM: As of 2022, only 36% of Wayne County third-grade students read proficiently. This is detrimental to children’s ability to learn as the curriculum shifts from learning to read to reading to learn. As a consequence, many children who miss this milestone remain behind academically or drop out of school altogether.
A SOLUTION: The Wayne County Public Library took the lead in forming a community collaborative and applied to become READ Wayne, a local branch of the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. READ Wayne believes that engaged communities have the ability and responsibility to mobilize to build a literacy-rich community, to provide accessible parent education, to create awareness, and to increase cross-sector partnerships in order all children can read and succeed.
THE MISSION: With a commitment to equity and inclusivity, READ Wayne works in partnership with families and community organizations to bolster school readiness, school attendance, and summer learning in order that all children may read proficiently by the end of third grade.
THE PLAN: As a result of excellent guidance from the READ Wayne steering committee and the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, our strategic community solutions to address reading success are the following:
School Readiness Action Team
The Goal: To influence an annual 2-4% gain in literacy skill acquisition for those in kindergarten per the Kindergarten Readiness assessment.
Team Project and Activities Include:
- Parent Nights
- Streamlining distribution of information in the community
- Supporting early learning-focused events
Summer Learning Action Team
The Goals:
- To influence an annual 5% increase in summer learning activities in Wayne County per year.
- To influence an annual 5% increase in children participating in summer learning activities in Wayne County per year.
Team Project and Activities Include:
- Summer Learning Toolkit
- Summer Learning Week
- Parent Surveys
School Attendance Action Team
The Goal: To influence an annual 1% decrease in chronic absenteeism.
Team Project and Activities Include:
- School Attendance Incentive Programs
- School Attendance Month
- School Attendance Poster Contest
Family & Community Engagement Action Team
The Goal: To empower the READ Wayne action teams to meet their goals by increasing parental awareness of early literacy supports and resources and reducing information silos among community influencers in Wayne County, with a particular focus on families that face barriers.
Team Project and Activities Include:
- Campaign Presentations
- New Member Orientations
- Support Communications
OUR PARTNERS:
- Boys and Girls Club
- Communities Supporting Schools
- Goldsboro Pediatrics
- Habitat for Humanity
- Housing Authority of the City of Goldsboro
- Partnership for Children of Wayne County
- Seymour Johnson Air Force Base
- The Well CDC
- UNC Health Wayne
- United Way
- University of Mount Olive
- WAGES
- Wayne Community College
- Wayne County Chamber of Commerce
- Wayne County Public Schools
- YMCA
How You can Support READ Wayne:
- Join an action team.
- Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
- Attend the READ Wayne Partnership Summit on April 11th, 2024.
- Invite other community members to join the campaign.
- Invite READ Wayne to present a campaign overview to your group.
- Submit your email to be added to the READ Wayne email list.
PROJECT MANAGER: Heather Gray, 919-988-6497, email