Melissa Ross
Jacksonville’s Read It Forward Jax Coalition is composed of some real heavy hitters across the 904, such as Kerri Stewart, chief of staff to Mayor Lenny Curry; Susie Wiles, chairwoman of the Donald Trump campaign in Florida; and many more.
But the coalition’s creator has the respect of them all: attorney and former Duval County School Board member W.C. Gentry.
Known for his sharp legal mind, Gentry is of course renowned for his $11 billion legal victory over the nation’s tobacco companies.
Now retired, he’s convened the literacy effort to try to improve the region’s dismal reading scores, particularly in the early grades.
As he spoke at this week’s meeting, there is progress to report.
Duval County Public Schools and the Early Learning Coalition of Duval have signed a Data Sharing Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, so that DCPS can access student data back through PreK programs, and the Early Learning Coalition can follow children throughout their elementary education experience. It’s an arrangement Gentry and other education advocates have long sought.
“Having comprehensive longitudinal data will provide valuable feedback to DCPS and ELC and will allow data based assessment of true readiness and effects of various interventions. As far as we know, Duval is the only school district in the state that has comprehensive access to student data from PreK forward. We are also one of the few districts in the nation that has accomplished this,” Gentry said.
