September 4, 2020
Despite the ups and downs of this nontraditional summer, we want to extend our thanks to you for hanging on and prioritizing literacy in your child’s life! Reading is critical for the success of our student’s future, so thank you for investing part of your summer to ensure your child continues to read and grow. Encouraging literacy helps pave the way for a better future for TN kids and the outcome of our state as a result.
This summer, Tristar Reads enrolled 460 students with over 350,000 reading minutes total read over the course of the summer. At Tennesseans for Student Success, we believe in helping students prepare for their future. That said, we want to thank you, parents, for choosing to spend part of your summer engaging and reading with us because the future of your children matter to us!
Governor Lee recently announced that September is College Savings Month with TNStars promoting the opportunity for three students to win a college scholarship. Find out more here and stay connected with us on social media to continue to hear about college savings opportunities.
We also want to thank our Tristar Reads Team Leaders for working hard to recruit and spread the word about Tristar Reads. With your help, we are able to donate $1500 to local libraries around the state! Program wrap up: Monday, September 7th is the LAST DAY students will have an opportunity to log reading hours. After Monday, the competition will be over and students reading hours will be locked in and final. In the next few weeks, we will be reaching to the top students in each age group to verify their hours read and schedule a time to reward those students with their $1000 college scholarship. Instilling a joy for reading is one of the best gifts of this program. If you have any further questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to Jessica Whitmill, Policy and Outreach Manager at jessica@tnsuccess.org.
In Tennessee, we are working hard as a state to prepare students for success in college, career, and life. According to the Tennessee Department of Education, in 2019, only 34.9 percent of students across grade levels met expectations in English Language Arts (ELA). That’s why it’s imperative as a state we address this issue head-on with education policies that provide students with the necessary supports, instruction, and high-quality material to improve reading outcomes.
If you are willing, please send an email to your legislators on how literacy is important for your child’s success – whether in college, career, or beyond.
We appreciate your feedback. What would be helpful to see in our newsletter and in our Tristar Reads program next summer? What was beneficial and helpful to you? What was not helpful? Please take a moment to complete this survey to offer your feedback. We want to hear from you! Next summer will come quicker than you think. Get ahead of the game and register for Tristar Reads 2021. Summer reading won’t begin until May but we want to make sure you are the first on our list!