OCPS launches districtwide 'Let's Read OCPS' challenge; board asks for science-of-reading rollout data

Orange County Public Schools announced a districtwide reading challenge and board members requested more detail on the district’s Science of Reading rollout during the Jan. 14 school board meeting.

A deputy superintendent (speaking at the meeting) introduced “Let’s Read OCPS,” a district challenge running from Jan. 27 through April 30 that encourages students, employees, families and community members to log at least 500 minutes of reading during the program. The deputy superintendent said the district’s overall goal is 20,000,000 minutes of reading; participants will log minutes in Beanstack and kickoff sessions were scheduled for Jan. 21 at noon and Jan. 22 at 9 a.m. The public-facing website was given as "reed.ocps.net." (As stated at the meeting.)

Separately, members discussed the district’s Science of Reading training. Member Ferrant praised K–2 teacher training and said teachers reported improvements in student reading levels, noting one first-grade teacher who said none of her incoming students were below grade level after the training. Ferrant asked for a formal report, and district staff agreed to provide numbers on training completion and current implementation levels. Member Ferrant specifically asked whether middle school and older-grade training plans existed and requested progress metrics.

Deputy and administrative speakers also highlighted graduation-rate figures in the meeting’s reports, noting a 96% average graduation rate among 22 traditional high schools and an overall district rate of 89.3 including charter schools; those figures were presented as background in the same report segment.

Ending

Staff committed to returning implementation numbers for Science of Reading training and to provide details on the Let's Read OCPS challenge logistics and participation reporting.