This article was written by BenitoLink Intern Camille Mattish. Lea este articulo en español aquí.

San Benito County Office of Education hosted its first countywide Literacy Summit on Jan. 25, with the theme of “Unlocking a Reader’s Journey.” Over 180 community members attended the Summit. The event, which included a mixer and dinner, focused on different learning and teaching styles.

According to the California Accountability System, three of the four main districts in the county, Hollister School District, Aromas-San Juan Unified School District, and San Benito High School District, were 23 to 40 points below the standard score in English Language Arts during the 2023 school year, while North County Joint Union was 3.4 points above the standard. “This measure is based on student performance on either the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment or the California Alternate Assessment.

The event featured keynote speaker Kate Kinsella, who has 30 years in education, is a curriculum author, an award-winning teacher and advisor to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights on Equitable Curriculum and Instruction for Multilingual Learners. 

Kinsella used her two adopted children, who are now adults, as examples of two different learning styles. 

She said that when a child is a reluctant reader who does not feel confident or successful about reading, “It takes more than a good book to build a reader. They need to have skills and support.”

Kinsella said that to increase literacy, classrooms need to get rid of “popcorn” reading and use other strategies to give students more confidence in their reading.

Popcorn reading is where the teacher reads a passage, then picks a student to read the next passage, then another student for the next passage and so forth.

Kinsella said popcorn reading causes some children to feel anxious about reading and can interfere with their ability to improve their reading skills.

After Kinsella spoke, the attendees broke into roundtable sessions where they discussed different literacy overviews, which included information such as research data and current best practices. “They also provided participants with ideas, strategies, and practical tools they can readily use with their district/site leadership team, classrooms, or at home,” said San Benito County Office of Education Curriculum and Instruction, Equity and Access Director Mai Opeña-Cruz. 

In her introduction of Kinsella, Opeña-Cruz said literacy is meant to make the community better and stronger, adding that teachers are encouraged to unlock the passion in students to become more proficient in reading and learning by third grade.

San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Krystal Lomanto told attendees that research shows that if a child cannot read by third grade, they will struggle academically their entire career. 

The summit recognized the top 15 young readers in the county. They are:

  • Joseph Zacharie Eduarte
  • Jane Canning
  • Bingham McCraw
  • Daniel Huerta
  • Norman Glenn Campos
  • Conor Ballinger
  • Emmanuel Diaz Hernandez
  • Charlotte Inman
  • Kennedy Miller
  • Sarah Southivongnorath
  • Aiden Perlera
  • Logan Kreuzer
  • Nikita Hung
  • Ariana Rodriguez
  • Natallia Tapia

The BenitoLink Internship Program is a paid, skill-building program that prepares local youth for a professional career. This program is supported by Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Golf Tour, United Way, Taylor Farms and the Emma Bowen Foundation.