A flurry of votes on school mask policies in Charlotte-area schools comes as students return from winter break and COVID-19 cases surge across the country.
Second-graders at Oakdale Elementary School in Charlotte do a phonics lesson.
As the pandemic deepens the academic challenges that face many students of color, a consensus is building that more effective reading instruction is a key to long-term recovery. Mecklenburg County officials have threatened to withhold $56 million from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools because of lingering racial gaps in all subjects.
For Munro Richardson, executive director of Read Charlotte, six years of analyzing data boils down to one recurring theme: From 2014 to 2019, state reading exams have consistently showed at least 72% of white third-graders in CMS are on track for academic success. Their Black and Hispanic counterparts have never gotten above 37%.