Literacy Information
Parent/Family Resources
The Office of Early Learning and Literacy (OELL) at the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) and the Office of Virtual Education are committed to a vision for family engagement that ensures families and community members actively engage with children, students, teachers, school personnel, education leaders, and decision-makers as full partners in the shared responsibility of preparing all learners for college, career, and citizenship. The SCDE seeks to empower families and community members by providing capacity-building assistance and resources for effective family engagement that promotes literacy. A Family Engagement Framework has been developed following a statewide collaborative effort of stakeholders for districts and schools to use as support for family and community engagement. In addition, the SCDE created Supporting Early Literacy at Home: A Parents’ Guide, which is a tool for parents and families that promotes children’s early literacy development. This memo outlines the details regarding a free online family resource to support family engagement in early learning and literacy.
Supporting Early Literacy at Home: A Parents’ Guide is an online resource designed to provide information for parents and caregivers so that they can support their children’s early literacydevelopment. Research shows that parent/caregiver involvement is the number one predictor of early literacy success as well as future academic success. The guide provides information and strategies that will equip parents and caregivers with tools to support children from birth through the beginning years of school. Each module includes a video introduction, resources to view, resources to read, and a place to reflect and respond.
The guide does not require a login, and the link can be added to the webpages hosted by districts, schools, and professional organizations. Below is the link to this resource guide:
For additional information regarding the guide, contact Tammy Hegler at tthegler@ed.sc.gov or 803-734-8030, Wendy Burgess at wburgess@ed.sc.gov or 803-734-5858, or Ablean Hanna at ahanna@ed.sc.gov or 803-734-0780.
Read to Succeed
The South Carolina Read to Succeed Act:
The South Carolina Read to Succeed Act, which became law in 2014, aims to improve literacy and reading proficiency for all children in our state. The law includes some significant changes regarding promotion and retention of third-grade students. The law states, “Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, a student must be retained in the third grade if the student fails to demonstrate reading proficiency at the end of third grade as indicated by scoring at the lowest achievement level on the state’s summative reading assessment that equates to Not Met 1 on the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS).”
There are a number of exceptions to this requirement in the law and your child’s principal will be able to discuss these exceptions with you. Please be assured that our district’s goal is for all students to be proficient readers in third grade and for no student to be retained for failing to demonstrate reading proficiency. The district currently has many supports in place to improve student success.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your school’s principal or your child’s teacher. You can also find information about Read to Succeed on the South Carolina Department of Education web page: http://ed.sc.gov/instruction/office-of-early-learning-and-literacy1/.