Something significant is happening in Jackson Charter School's first-grade classrooms — and the numbers back it up.
This winter, first-grade students scored where most kids don't reach until the end of the school year. On a nationally recognized reading assessment called the NWEA MAP, Jackson's first graders hit milestones typically seen in spring — months ahead of schedule. The growth isn't just encouraging. It's historic for the school. In past years, only about 8% of first graders performed in the top half of foundational reading skills during winter testing.
This year, more than half of students in the highest-performing class landed at or above that same benchmark. That's not a small jump — that's a fundamental shift in what Jackson's youngest readers are capable of achieving.
What are "foundational skills," exactly? Think of them as the building blocks of reading: recognizing letter sounds, blending words, reading with fluency. When kids lock in these skills early, everything else — comprehension, vocabulary, confidence — follows.
Jackson's student growth percentiles reached up to the 65th percentile this year, meaning these students are growing faster than the majority of their peers nationwide. While the school continues working toward closing the overall achievement gap, the direction of progress is clear and the pace is accelerating.
A key driver of this progress: the United Way Reading Buddies program, which places trained volunteers directly in classrooms to read one-on-one, or in small groups, with students. The program also provides free books for classroom libraries and copies for students to take home — reinforcing foundational skills beyond the school day. Paired with targeted phonics instruction from Jackson's teachers, this combination is producing results the school hasn't seen before.
Reading isn't a solo sport. It takes a village of adults showing up, sitting down, and opening a book with a child who needs it.
Interested in being part of that village? Learn how to become a Reading Buddy and support Jackson students.