Marietta City Schools has exciting news to share with the community. We are thrilled to announce the implementation of an enhanced literacy program, developed in collaboration with the esteemed University of Georgia. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to providing the best possible education for our students.
District officials have announced a new program called “Writing the Book on Literacy: The Next Chapter,” which aims to enhance literacy skills among middle school students in Marietta.
The district stated that this collaboration with UGA’s Mary Frances Early College of Education is an expansion of their successful elementary strategies. The goal is to provide middle school students with essential literacy skills that will benefit them throughout high school and beyond.
The program will receive a funding of $1.1 million to support its initiatives.
School officials have announced the launch of a new program aimed at improving middle-grade reading. The initiative, which builds upon the successful Science of Reading-based approach, will provide comprehensive training, coaching, and instructional resources to educators at Marietta Sixth Grade Academy and Marietta Middle School.
According to officials, the program will also build on the district’s previous success in 2023. During that time, the third-grade reading scores for the Georgia Milestones were five times higher than both the state average and the metro Atlanta area average.
“Marietta School Superintendent Grant Rivera expressed his pride in Marietta’s achievements as a state leader in elementary literacy and expressed optimism for extending this success to the middle grades. He emphasized the district’s commitment to implementing research-based literacy strategies in every middle-grades classroom, which will revolutionize the way students in Marietta learn to read and write.”
Dr. Sally Zepeda, a national expert, is leading the literacy initiative for elementary school students in MCS in partnership with UGA’s Mary Frances College of Education.
The UGA team will be conducting focus groups and analyzing data as part of the expanded program to assist the school district in refining strategies and enhancing outcomes in the next two years, according to school officials.