Literacy is one of our major priorities, with the goal of focusing all our districts, educators and administrators on achieving literacy for all learners, from birth to kindergarten and into adulthood. Strategies include collaboration, professional development, assessment and data, and research-based practices.

Leading a Community of Readers and Writers

Literacy, the key to learning for life!

Literacy is the continual process of constructing meaning through listening, speaking, reading, writing and interacting with people and the environment. Having strong literacy skills is key to a young person’s success in school. It enables an individual to be a happy, healthy, and contributing member of a community by:

• Gaining knowledge and expressing curiosity about their environment:
• Connecting what they know with new information
• Evaluating what they see and hear
• Communicating with others using a variety of methods
• Creating and expressing ideas in new ways.

In 2002, the Kent ISD superintendents (KISA) adopted literacy as a countywide initiative. The superintendents’ literacy vision is for all students to achieve at least a minimum of one year’s growth in one year’s time beyond their current achievement level as demonstrated by an approved literacy assessment.

The goal of the Literacy Initiative is to focus KISA, KCC, Kent ISD and all constituent school district goals and activities around literacy achievement for all learners… birth to five years to school age to adults. The strategies are:

1. Collaboration

• Collaborate with district literacy leaders and Kent ISD staff to identify district needs, promote successful practices, and coordinate literacy services.
• Work with community leaders of education, business, healthcare, community agencies, and media to promote the importance of literacy and provide literacy learning services for learners of all ages.

2. Professional Development

• Develop and provide literacy learning resources such as workshops, newsletters, website, and instructional media materials.

3. Assessment and Data

• Identify and promote effective practices for assessment, data collection, and analysis of student literacy learning.

4. Research-based Practices

• Identify and promote research-based effective instructional practices for literacy learning for all students.