PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine visited Perrysburg's Hull Prairie Intermediate School Monday ahead of the 2023-2024 school year to discuss early childhood literacy with teachers. In the 2021 - 2022 school year, 40% of Ohio's third graders were not reading proficiently, according to an Ohio Department of Education report.
In addition to the Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee, state officials are working to implement the ReadOhio Initiative, an effort to encourage improved literacy at all levels.
DeWine's visit, which pertained to the ReadOhio Initiative, was productive, Perrysburg educators said.
"It was actually a great opportunity to hear from the governor himself and talk to the governor about the new initiative for early literacy here in the state," Hull Prairie Principal Scott Best said. "We got our reading teachers together and they were able to sit down with the governor on Monday about the science of reading and our progress as a school district and how we were moving forward."
According to Best, school efforts to increase literacy in Perrysburg have been effective.
"Our elementary teachers... have really been focusing the last couple of years on early literacy and looking at different programs and different approaches to see what's working," he said.
Across Perrysburg's four elementary schools during the 2021-2022 school year, the district averaged an early literacy rate of 3.5 out of five stars from the Ohio Department of Education Report Card. Two schools (Toth and Ft. Meigs) received three stars, while the other two (Frank and Woodland) received four stars each for early literacy.
Statewide, 27.3% of schools received three stars in early literacy from the ODE, while 13.4% received five stars.
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