The Hamilton County Schools Opportunity Zone elementary schools are partnering with Read 20 to inspire and celebrate the reading success of children. The new partnership will be kicked off at Orchard Knob Elementary School on Wednesday, at 8:30 a.m.
As part of the recognition program, children will receive an “I Jumped a Level” sticker for moving up a reading level each time the students make sufficient progress to move up another level in the reading program. The children will also get to sign a large “I Jumped a Level” banner that will hang in the front lobby of each Opportunity Zone school. Community partners and political leaders will join with teachers and administrators to honor the reading success of young children.
“We want to acknowledge and celebrate the reading progress that is taking place in each of our Opportunity Zone schools due to the hard work of our teachers and the implementation of both guided reading and a new reading intervention model,” said Jill Levine, chief of the Opportunity Zone.
Read 20’s mission as a public/private partnership was born out of the Chattanooga area’s efforts to boost education and literacy. Officials said, "The program is dedicated to creating a strong community of readers by promoting literacy skills and the importance of reading with children at least 20 minutes a day or more. Read 20 aims to cultivate a love of reading through working with parents, grandparents, early childhood education professionals and community leaders."