Spring is in the air – and so is the taxpayer-funded nonprofit nonsense.
According to Jacksonville Today, the results of a new report called “Reading the Landscape. Strengths, Gaps, and Opportunities in Duval County’s Early Literacy System” created by the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF), suggests Duval County’s “longstanding literacy woes” can’t be solved by a “solitary organization, educator or person.”
It takes a village – A massive taxpayer-funded nonprofit village, specifically.
And “literacy woes” is putting it mildly.
Mayor Donna Deegan described Duval’s reading scores as “abysmal, failure, shameful and horrific,” among other things, in her 2023 Transition Committee Report.
The mayor’s document even shockingly claimed:
“Not only are a majority of our Title I third graders not reading at grade, but a substantial percentage of them simply cannot read, and have little hope of learning to read, under the present circumstances.”
WTF mayor?!
Duval County Public Schools operates off a $3.4 billion budget. At the same time, JPEF’s report identified 99 local organizations, 419 early childhood providers, and five national partners all working – allegedly- to improve literacy.
And yet…
Out of roughly 97 elementary schools in the district, 26 have less than 30% reading proficiency for the 2024 – 2025 school year. Eight of those fall below 20%.
- Grasp Academy – 6% (specializing in reading disorders, to be fair)
- Wayman Academy of the Arts – 8%
- San Jose Primary – 12%
- Tiger Academy – 13%
- George Washington Carver Elementary – 15%
- Susie E. Tolbert Elementary – 16%
- Hidden Oak Elementary – 19%
- Kipp Jacksonville Elementary (Bessie Coleman Academy) – 19%
Last school year, just 51% of Duval’s third graders were considered proficient readers.
Pearl-clutching numbers.
Naturally, Jacksonville Today concluded: “more must be done.”
JPEF’s report offered nine recommendations for DCPS:
– UF Curriculum following the “science of reading”
– School/family partnerships
– More teacher training
– Tutoring in school and during after-school programs
– “Community services to help reduce external barriers”
– Intervention orthography support
– Tech investments
– “Family support through training and hardware”
– A birth-to-third-grade literacy plan
DCPS has allegedly implemented five of the nine, but the article highlights only the “most important” wins: adopting UF’s literacy curriculum and promising to share data.
Since buying lesson plans and sharing hasn’t worked, JPEF believes tracking literacy proficiency from birth through third grade is essential.
“The earlier we can start the better,” said Shannon Varga, JPEF’s senior director of research and data.
Meanwhile, JPEF President Rachael Tutwiler Fortune suggests adult literacy programs, book clubs, and book giveaways will “inspire” reading.
Then comes the real message.
The article brings up an old interview with a Harvard Education professor to argue nonprofit programs – particularly those focused on race and community – are a must to improve literacy outcomes.
The professor said she doesn’t “think there is anything inherently wrong with black and brown kids.” She just wants us to know, she knows nonprofits are “making up for what schools lack,” by “supplementing disinvestment,” and providing “additional opportunities.”
And then the professor accidentally said the quiet part out loud.
“For black and brown young people, indigenous young people, queer young people, young people living in poverty, I firmly believe that an opportunity to process and make sense of inequality, to make sense of harm, is extremely important for them.”
And there it is folks.
Duval’s 3rd graders have been so busy processing inequality and harm, they simply haven’t had time to learn to read.
Jacksonville Today’s article also promoted a public radio interview with Fortune. So, of course, I had to listen.
The poor girl tried to explain JPEF’s “biggest insight” from their own report is that Jacksonville has “what it takes” if we “better align ourselves to really make progress on the thing we all agree we need to move the needle on.”
“Like we are not doing as much as we could as a community,” Fortune said.
Then she said something about setting the table with the usual nonprofit dinner guests, and she’s going to make sure those who “need to be invited to the table are there.”
Once everyone is at the table, they can then figure out how to “break down barriers” to create a “strong foundation of trust” because – “we are all in this together.”
Fortune believes, “intentional dialog” and “aligned action across the board” will prevent Duval County from producing “similar outcomes to those we’ve seen in the past.”
Perhaps at this point, we don’t need a more cohesive village – we need a different one.
