Youngstown schools starts First-Grade Promise to help kids learn to read

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown City School District is implementing what officials call the First-Grade Promise, a system to identify first-grade and kindergarten children who aren’t reading at grade level.

For the last few years, schools have followed the Third-Grade Reading Guarantee, an Ohio law that flags third-graders who aren’t reading at a third-grade level. These children are offered interventions to improve their skills and those who aren’t reading at that grade level by the end of third-grade could be held back from fourth grade.

“We can’t wait that long and – more importantly, students can’t,” said Krish Mohip, the district’s chief executive officer. “We need to identify those students who are struggling as early as possible so we can provide the necessary interventions for them. Reading is too important for a child’s educational foundation.”

Mohip tasked Connie Coburn, a director of transformation who concentrates on kindergarten and first grade, to develop a solution to identify and help those children earlier.

Read more about the initiative in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.