PORTSMOUTH, Va. — This summer, some Portsmouth students are diving into more than just pools—they’re diving into books, too.
At Portsmouth Catholic Regional School, young learners like Jewel Basnight are sharpening their reading skills through Horizons Hampton Roads, an academic enrichment program that supports low-income students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
“Yeah, the vowels saying their names,” Jewel said as she practiced vowel sounds during a recent literacy session.
Reading is a cornerstone of the Horizons summer curriculum, with a strong focus on helping students become proficient by the third grade, a critical academic milestone.
Research shows that students who are not proficient readers by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school compared to their peers who read at grade level.
Karen Bynum, a reading instructor with Horizons, says building strong literacy foundations early on can change a child’s academic future.
“They're at the age where they're able to absorb,” Bynum said. “Making sure they understand the letter-sound correspondence and phonological awareness by third grade is very important. They can build and continue to be lifelong learners. If they don’t get what they need early on, they struggle, and we don’t want them to continue to struggle and have those gaps in reading.”
Horizons Hampton Roads offers a six-week summer learning program that includes reading, writing, swimming and other enrichment opportunities to prevent summer learning loss and close the achievement gap.
For Jewel and many other young readers in Portsmouth, the lessons learned this summer could make all the difference during the school year.
