NEWS ANALYSIS

MILT THOMAS

The statistics on poverty in this county are difficult to comprehend in a county famous for its beautiful beaches, quality of life and wealth. Poverty begins at birth for 52% of all babies born in Indian River County. That is the percentage of childbirths paid through Medicaid.

Based on 2014 Indian River County Children’s Needs Assessment, 21.3 percent of children under 18 years were living in poverty. More than fifty six percent of all Indian River County students were eligible for free or reduced price lunch (at Dodgertown Elementary School the rate is 85 percent).  As if this situation wasn’t bad enough, in January 2014, 317 students in this county were homeless.

When trying to determine the causes of this poverty, one doesn’t have to look far. In today’s world it is no longer possible to find a decent job with anything less than a high school education. The most recent numbers for Indian River County indicate a graduation rate of about 80 percent. That might compare favorably to state and national numbers, but what about the 20 percent of students who do not graduate? Are they consigned to a lifetime of work that barely exceeds poverty wages? In the local African-American community, the graduation rate is only 65 percent.

In attempting to address the reasons so many children do not finish high school, there is one key factor that almost guarantees a failed education – the inability to read. In fact, if a child reaches third grade and falls behind in reading and reading comprehension, that inability will drag the student further behind in each successive year. If they can’t understand what they read, they will fail to acquire all the life skills and knowledge that can only come from reading.

But help is on the way. Actually, that help is here thanks to The Learning Alliance, a partnership of community leaders with the Indian River County School system and the Moonshot Moment program.

According to a 2012 letter from recently retired Schools Superintendent, Dr. Fran Adams, “Third grade marks a critical milestone for students when the focus shifts from learning to read to the expectation that students will read in order to learn.”

Adams goes on to say that students not reading at grade level by third grade, have only a one in seven chance of ever catching up and are four times more likely to drop out of high school. As a result, she and the School District established a goal of having 90 percent of all third grade students reading at grade level by 2018. That goal earned the title of Moonshot Moment and the program to accomplish it has garnered national attention.

Ray Oglethorpe is a philanthropist, former president of AOL, and chairman of The Learning Alliance along with Executive Director Barbara Hammond and Liz Woody, Director of Professional Development. All three took part in the second annual Moonshot Moment Day of Service at Rosewood Magnet Elementary School. Dr. Mark Rendell, the new superintendent of Indian River County schools also took part. The event included an update on progress towards the 90 percent goal and a tour of classrooms where students participated in programs designed to strengthen reading skills.

If The Learning Alliance achieves its Moonshot Moment goal by 2018, it will not only establish our school system as a model for such programs nationally, it will enhance the future for hundreds of  local students who might otherwise end up as poverty statistics.

For more information about The Learning Alliance and Moonshot Moment, contact Marie O’Brien at 877-548-READ or email her at: mobrien@thelearningalliance.org.