Gwinnett schools recognized for students’ reading skills

Anderson-Livsey Elementary was recognized for improving from about 52% of third graders reading on or above grade level in the 2022 Georgia Milestones to just over 70% a year later.

The seven schools with more than 90% reading proficiency in the 2023 Milestones are:

DeNelle West, Gwinnett’s Chief Learning Officer, celebrated the schools recognized and said the district is working to meet students’ individual needs to increase proficiency across the district.

Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, has 84 elementary schools. The state found that 71% of last school year’s third graders in the district are at least reading on grade level. Those scores can vary widely by school, with some having a third grade proficiency rate below 50%.

“To better prepare and equip staff to more effectively meet and exceed our district’s and the state’s academic targets in literacy, we invested in high-quality professional learning that creates a shared understanding of the science of reading, structured literacy, and high-leverage instructional practices,” West said.

The science of reading emphasizes drilling down on explicit phonemic awareness, word recognition and other techniques to improve literacy. Structured literacy is a systematic application of the science of reading.

Parents who have advocated across Georgia for literacy reforms at local and state levels argue that Gwinnett has been slow and inconsistent with implementing changes, leading to lower or stagnant reading and language results.