District, libraries aim to improve literacy; Kentucky: Pike County School District.

A districtwide initiative to improve reading and literacy skills led to Pike County School District in Pikeville, Ky., being named the state's 2006 honoree in the National Civic Star Award competition.

The literacy program is designed for children in kindergarten through fifth grade and relies on scientifically researched-based strategies, programming, services and collaboration with community partners.

The program was initiated in 2004 after library media specialists, school district administrators and community members identified many issues that plague the region and its schools and adversely affect student achievement and productive citizenship later in life.

The issues included the education levels of the region's adults, the region's poverty levels, a lack of pre-literacy experiences, the poor reading experiences of students and the failure of most schools to implement scientifically proven, research-based programs for reading A failure to establish learning opportunities beyond the school day was also identified as a factor.

The district, in collaboration with community volunteers, established the Pike County LIBERTY Initiative to address the issues. LIBERTY stands for Libraries Involve, Build and Energize Readers, Transforming Youth.

The initiative is structured through these activities and stakeholder roles:

* Educators, parents and community volunteers attend regularly scheduled professional development and collaborative study group meetings to learn how to become effectively involved in student achievement.

* School-based, decision-making councils, which include parents, put to use a grant awarded under a program called Improving Literacy Through School Libraries. The funds are used to acquire technology, instructional materials, home-literacy packs and library books for targeted students reading at specific levels.

* School personnel, library staff and student, parent and community volunteers provide extended-school-day services with creative programming such as summer Camp Read-a-Lot, monthly Family Reading Night and Jump Start Camp for registered pre-kindergarten students. The volunteers and employees also provide before- and after-school tutoring programs in the school library media centers.

The LIBERTY Initiative specifically targets students in kindergarten through fifth grade who do not qualify for special education services yet still have significant reading problems. During school, these students receive additional daily reading instruction in the library media center using the Waterford Early Reading Program. This research-proven, computerized program actively engages students in learning at their individual levels and learning pace.

After school, the students participate in well-planned activities during extended services before school, after school, and in the evenings and in the summer with volunteers acting as reading tutors and recruiters for program volunteers. Volunteers include parents, grandparents, church members, retired teachers, older students and other community members.

Preliminary data indicate that nearly all students targeted at the beginning of the project are reading at grade level, with some improving two levels in six months. District personnel and library media specialists report that many targeted students are experiencing success for the first time and the LIBERTY Initiative is working where other programs had failed in helping students learn to read.

All activities of the LIBERTY Initiative have been adopted by the Pike County Board of Education and are part of the district's 2006-2008 Comprehensive Improvement Plan.

Specific activities included in the plan involve using assessment data and community-needs data to drive instructional planning and collaboration with volunteers.

For more information, contact Superintendent Frank Welch at Pike County, School District, PO. Box 3097, Pikeville, Ky. 41502, or call [phone]. Welch's e-mail address is [e-mail].