Duval County Public Schools' and the Early Learning Coalition of Duval Introduce Read It Forward Jax! VPK Partnership
Jacksonville, FL - Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) and the Early Learning Coalition of Duval (ELC of Duval) today announced a partnership for Read It Forward Jax! VPK. This partnership will be an extension of Duval County Public Schools' Read It Forward Jax! campaign that focuses on improving the reading performance for students in grades K-12.
Read It Forward Jax! VPK is a reading program that encourages families, schools and child care providers to read with Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) students to increase their understanding of literacy concepts to help prepare them for academic success when they enter school. Teachers will track the number of books each child reads at home and in the classroom. Prizes will be awarded for participating VPK classes and families.
"We are so excited at the level of participation from the children in our VPK centers," said Susan Main, Executive Director of ELC of Duval. "We work hard to ensure early literacy is a part of quality child care and the cooperation on an event like this emphasizes the work we do. We anticipate this to be a community-wide success made possible by the efforts of all our partners!"
The partnership between DCPS and ELC of Duval is a perfect combination that supports learning from the earliest stage of a child's development and continues through secondary education. The ELC of Duval's mission is to create a coordinated and integrated system for school readiness services to better prepare children for entry into kindergarten with an emphasis on literacy skills for children who may be at risk for future school failure. DCPS' vision is that every student will graduate from Duval County public schools with the knowledge and skills to be successful in post-secondary education and/or the workforce. With this program, students will receive high-quality training from the moment they enter a classroom to the moment they graduate from high school.
"The goal of this partnership is to help prepare children to enter kindergarten with the ability to understand basic literacy skills that can then be expanded upon when they enter Duval County Public Schools," said Superintendent Pratt-Dannals. "So often, children are starting kindergarten unable to read which causes them to fall behind and struggle with their education. We are confident that this program will help eliminate this problem and provide children with the necessary knowledge to succeed from day one in our schools."
For more information, please email
ReadItForwardJax@duvalschools.org.
To learn more about Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten, Child Care Resource and Referral or the Early Learning Coalition of Duval call 904-208-2044 or visit
www.ChooseQualityChildCare.org.
Duval County Public Schools operates 177 schools and serves approximately 125,000 students. The school district is committed to providing high quality educational opportunities that will inspire all students to acquire and use the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in a global economy and culturally diverse world.
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