LITTLE ROCK — The families of about 20,000 elementary students will soon be notified that they are eligible for a $500 grant to pay for tutors to help their children learn to read at grade level.
The Legislative Council approved emergency rules, clearing the way for literacy tutoring grants to be awarded.
The grants will go to students in kindergarten through the third grade who have trouble learning to read. Specifically, kindergarteners qualify if they score in the lowest 10th percentile on tests that assess their reading skills. First graders qualify if they score in the lowest 15th percentile and second graders if they score in the lowest 20th percentile.
Third graders are eligible if they scored in the lowest 25th percentile on the previous end-of-year literacy assessment. Also, they will be eligible if they are not promoted at the end of this school year.
The state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has developed a list of qualified tutors. Education officials told legislators that tutors underwent a “stringent process” in order to get on the approved list.
Parents can pick a tutor from the list, and the state will pay the tutor directly. Depending on the type of lessons used by the tutor, $500 will be enough for 10 to 25 sessions.
The literacy tutoring grants are just one element in a sweeping overhaul of public education proposed by the governor and enacted by the legislature last year. It is called the LEARNS Act, and it also includes hiring 120 specialists, or literacy coaches, to teach K-3 students in schools that received a “D” or an “F” on school report cards.
Also, the state is developing a universal high-quality screening test to better ensure that all young students get help if they’re struggling to learn how to read.