Literacy week is a week Florida has dedicated towards the importance of literacy and reading. According to the Nations Report Card, the average reading scores for high school seniors in 2024 fell to their lowest level since 1992. Some are blaming the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic for the decline and others say it’s the fault of our increased reliability of cellphones and technology. Whatever the cause, falling literacy rates are detrimental to any society. Literacy directly impacts how well people can communicate and understand the world around them. It provides better academic success that leads to higher education and job opportunities that in turn helps the economy. Literacy is the foundation of advancing societies.
From January 26th through the 30th Winter Springs Highschool is celebrating literacy week. Mrs. Dunaye, our school’s literacy coach, has set up a week of activities and dress up themes to encourage students to celebrate the importance of literacy. Her job as a literacy coach is to meet with the English teachers and help students that might need a little extra support. She goes to meetings to meet with all the other literacy coaches from other schools and compares reading scores, and she plans activities like literacy week and helps with the school bear bucks shop. Dunaye says literacy is important because “It’s the foundation of everything, It helps you in so many areas of life. It will help you get jobs and communicate better with people” When asked how literacy week helps solve America’s literacy crisis she claimed that “Literacy week reminds students of the importance of reading when they might forget to set aside time for reading.
Reading, especially when kids start junior high, becomes less of a priority because they stop reading for fun and start reading for homework. When reading becomes a chore more and more children stop wanting to do it, our curiosity for knowledge and learning decreases. Literacy week is one of the actions we’re taking to re-spark curiosity and the eagerness to learn and read.
