Jerome elementary schools have teamed up with Jerome Public Library to launch “Building Blocks” (the Jerome version of Every Child Ready to Read @ your Library).  We renamed it for two reasons, 1. the other name reminded too many of us of No child left behind, and 2. because our program will be taking place @ the elementary school (instead of the library).  Even though it will have a different name, all parts of the program will follow the script of the original program as deemed appropriate by ICFL.

Our plan is to use Kindergarten registration as the place to enroll parents for the English and Spanish versions of these classes that will be given over the summer.  We have two elementary school reading specialists who are thrilled to “present” the storytime/skills training sessions.  The plan is to do the 4-5 year old program this year and then add other levels next year (we already have other elementary reading specialists signing up to help!) 

If all goes as planned, we will should be able to sign up 120 of the 240 kindergarten enrolling families.  Considering that the 2007 Jerome District IRI scores for our 1st graders went from 85% at grade level in Kindergarten and then fell to 71% at grade level in 1st grade, we are hoping that this family literacy education will help raise those scores and ultimately help in all academic acheivement through the course of their academic career. 

It will be simple to evaluate progam effectiveness by tracking IRI scores of K students whose parents complete the course vs. those not enrolled.  I will be sure to share our progress and lessons learned as we go along.  Stay tuned to this blog if you are interested.

If there are others who have plans for this program, please comment.  I am very passionate about doing everything possible to help children learn to read at this very important time in their life.  I am thrilled that ICFL has made this program available to Idaho libraries.  I can’t wait to see the results!!