Free documentary on children’s literacy Oct. 18
A documentary, “The Truth About Reading,” will be shown free of charge on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Shisler Conference Center in Wooster.
A documentary, “The Truth About Reading,” will be shown free of charge on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Shisler Conference Center in Wooster.
This is the only free public screening of this documentary in the state of Ohio.
Julie Beckett, retired Wooster City Schools elementary Title 1 reading teacher, encourages everyone to attend to learn more about the silent epidemic of illiteracy in local communities.
“Not a single district in Wayne County scored a 4.5 or 5.0 in early literacy,” she said. “Early literacy measures reading improvement and overall proficiency scores for kindergarten through third grade students. Over half of the districts in Wayne County scored 3.0 in EL, which is the lowest score possible but still considered meeting state standards.”
According to Beckett, 40% of Ohio third-graders are not proficient in reading.
“Wooster was the only school in Wayne County to score 3.0 in the area of achievement,” she said. “Achievement represents whether student performance on state tests met previously established thresholds. It also considers how well students performed on tests overall. All other districts in Wayne County scored 4.0 or higher, and three districts scored 5.0.”
During a state legislative conference earlier this spring, Gov. Mike DeWine also addressed this illiteracy issue.
“Providing students high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction aligned with the science of reading is the key,” he said. “We need to make a dramatic change.”
“The Truth About Reading” offers a deep dive into recent literacy struggles and how they can be overcome. Bringing this showing to Wooster is a combined effort by various community members to move toward making a change.
“It is the result of a joint effort between myself and a wonderful group of ladies from Tri-County Educational Service Center — Jennifer Marrah (consultant), Allison Vizzo (Family and Community Partnership Liaison) and leading the charge is Beth Gaubatz (Career Connections consultant),” Beckett said.
However, the showing wouldn’t be possible without the Family and Community Partnership Fund at Tri-County Educational Services, which agreed to fund the $1,500 fee required by the producers of the documentary.
“The Family and Community Partnership and Liaison provides connection and collaboration between schools, families and community to support students in their learning and development,” Beckett said. “Steve and Chris Matthew have graciously donated the funds needed to have the event at the Shisler Conference Center.”
Following the movie, there will be a panel of literacy specialists answering questions and offering advice for viewers to gain more insight into this dilemma.
The panel includes Debbie Hartwig, literacy consultant at State Support Team Region 9, State Personnel Development Grant literacy lead and Ohio’s Plan To Raise Literacy Achievement team member; Rebecca Tolson, Ph.D., chair of the Ohio Dyslexia Committee, literacy/dyslexia consultant and adjunct professor for Walsh University; Cassie Newcomer, prekindergarten through sixth grade literacy coach at Mapleton Local Schools; and Cassie Swanson, fifth through 12th grade literacy coach at Mapleton Local Schools.
“We would like to invite and encourage all parents, teachers, administrators, professors, business owners and all community members to join us for a free viewing of this eye-opening documentary,” Beckett said.