With thanks to volunteers of ACHIEVE Fort Bend County, local foundations, and the community; 1,200 elementary students will have 10 new books to help build their reading skills over the summer. This year, with greater community support, ACHIEVE was able to serve 200 additional students with the program. Each year hundreds of volunteers from teachers to law enforcement, to parents and members of the community, come together to select, sort, label, and distribute thousands of books so that students don’t lose academic progress during the summer break.
In existence since 2016, ACHIEVE Fort Bend County fills a critical gap for students with its Summer Reading program designed to give first grade students who are struggling with reading, 10 books each home to keep and read while school is out for the summer. The students, attending Title I schools in Fort Bend County, are identified by school personnel as needing reading support to stay on level with their peers as they advance to the next grade. Numerous studies indicate that during the summer months, when schools are closed, reading achievement of students from economically disadvantaged households slides back a few months every summer. The ACHIEVE program aims to stave off this decline by identifying students early and providing them with resources to keep them from falling further behind.
In keeping with the annual program, qualified educator volunteers and current education professionals help identify material that represents the reading level, language and interest of students so that they are excited about the books and will read them again and again and share them with others in their family. This year volunteers came out to sort the 12,000 books and assemble personalized book bags for each child. District personnel and teachers stood ready to personally deliver the book bags to students at their home.
“We are profoundly grateful for the community volunteers and funders who believe in our mission to keep and support growth in reading for our youngest students so that they too have an opportunity for success in reading and will go on to eventually graduate high school,” said James Patterson, ACHIEVE Fort Bend County Board Chairman.
To learn more about ACHIEVE Fort Bend County and the Summer Reading Program, or to make a donation, visit the ACHIEVE Facebook Page or email achievefbc@yahoo.com.