The West Virginia Public Education Collaborative, housed at West Virginia University, is taking steps to improve young learners’ reading, writing and oral language skills by investing more than $260,000 in six new statewide literacy projects.
Reading proficiency by the end of the third grade is a key milestone in every child’s learning journey. But there is a growing disparity among early learners. In the 2023-24 statewide English language arts assessment scores, 47% of West Virginia third graders scored at the reading proficiency level.
The WVPEC’s Sparking Early Literacy Growth program, in its third year, was commissioned by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, to help reach many of West Virginia’s most high-need students.
Projects range in scale, student population, grade level and region. Each will receive up to $50,000 and target young learners in the state’s remote, rural or critical areas.
“All West Virginia students deserve the opportunity to reach their full potential in the classroom and in the workforce, and that starts with making sure they have the literacy skills for lifelong success,” WVPEC Executive Director Donna Hoylman Peduto said.
“Each Sparking Early Literacy Growth project creatively taps into problem-solving literacy challenges at the local level. We hope to excite students, teachers and families to embrace reading and writing while reaching as many West Virginians in need as possible.”
A team of statewide literacy experts reviewed numerous proposals through a rigorous selection process.
Of the selected projects, five are supported by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and one is supported by the EQT Foundation, totaling $264,000 in funding.
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation grants were awarded to the following:
- Huntington Children’s Museum — Building Literacy through Museum Engagement.
- June Harless Center for Rural Educational Research and Development at Marshall University — Speech, Literacy, Play (SLP): Immersive Play-Based Strategies that Promote Language and Pre-Literacy Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings.
- Raleigh County Schools — Empowering Young Minds: A Vocabulary Voyage for Academic Success.
- Suncrest Elementary School — Building Bridges to Literacy: Enhancing Book Selection to Engage Reluctant Readers
- WVU Energy Express — Energy Express Supports Literacy Leadership Through Action Research.
The EQT Foundation grant was awarded to Wheeling Country Day School — Structured Literacy Intervention Professional Learning Community for Private Schools.
“Access to high-quality early literacy instruction can be transformational for young learners and essential to their future success,” said Melanie Claxton, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation senior program officer.
“The foundation’s investment in initiatives that promote innovative, multifaceted and localized approaches to systemic issues — such as the lack of foundational early literacy skill development — enables the creation of sustainable and scalable cross-sector partnerships that support all learners.”
