Third-Graders Display Improved Reading Skills

A group of third-graders at 42nd Street Elementary School showed off their reading skills Wednesday to more than 200 parents and school personnel, who marveled at the improvement the students have shown in a four-week summer reading and writing course, a school administrator said.

The class, Spotlight on Literacy, was sponsored by the publishing company Macmillan/McGraw Hill, which provided the reading materials as well as instruction to parents on how to teach their children to read. More than 250 students participated in the program, most of them below-average readers from 16 elementary schools.

“I think the Spotlight on Literacy program is excellent,” said administrator Dan Lawson, adding that heavy parent involvement helped the project. “The feedback from parents has been excellent.”

Though the summer program is over, Lawson stressed that the students have embarked on a new beginning.

“These kids have shown great improvement,” he said. “The kids are really looking forward to reading now, really looking forward to writing. This is not the end. This is just getting started for them.”