Students who read at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to graduate from high school than students who do not, Denver Public Schools officials said. That is why the district is gathering 2,500 preschool through third-grade teachers and school leaders next week for four days of training in downtown Denver.
The early-literacy training is an “unprecedented effort” to focus on third-grade reading, district officials said. The four-day event will be followed by monthly training sessions throughout the year at various schools.
The school district’s strategic plan calls for 80 percent of third-graders to be at or above grade level in reading and writing by 2020. That percentage is now at 31 percent, according to 2015 state test results.
The event at the Colorado Convention Center begins Monday with speeches by acting superintendent Susana Cordova, superintendent Tom Boasberg, state Sen. Mike Johnston and Erin Brown, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Children’s Affairs.
