Literacy summit held at GCSU

Jul. 13—Former Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal may no longer be living, but her legacy as an advocate for childhood literacy lives on through events like the Governor's Summit on Early Language and Literacy held Wednesday and Thursday at Georgia College & State University.

Established in 2017 under former Gov. Nathan Deal, the annual summit brings together state legislators and about 200 education professionals to share evidence-based research and best practices for teaching Georgia's children reading skills.

Throughout her husband's tenure as governor and beyond until her death last August, Deal was a staunch supporter of literacy. She read to students in all of Georgia's 159 counties and 181 school districts, including 1,000 schools and pre-K programs according to The Deal Foundation. In 2017 after the inaugural Governor's Summit, her name was placed on the newly-created Center for Early Language and Literacy housed on the GCSU campus. The Georgia General Assembly appropriates the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center's budget each year, nearly 75% of which goes toward grant funding for research and professional development, GCSU President Cathy Cox said in her welcome to summit attendees Wednesday.

Georgia Sen. Billy Hickman (R-Statesboro) helped kick off the 2023 Governor's Summit. He said the Georgia Senate made literacy a "top priority" during its most recent session. Sixteen hearings were held, and two new pieces of legislation were created — Senate Bill 211 and House Bill 538. They were signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in the spring. SB 211, sponsored by Hickman, creates the Georgia Council on Literacy, a 30-member body charged with reviewing the state's literacy programs and making recommendations for improvements. The group is to be made up of educators, legislators and others focused on literacy. HB 538 sets forth several actions for education decision-makers to take in order to target the state's reading problem. Included are several dates for those actions to be taken, which Hickman said the literacy council will make sure are adhered to. According to Georgia Department of Education data from 2022, 36.2% of the state's third-graders were reading below grade level. Reading on level by third grade is often tied to whether or not a student graduates high school.

Summit participants then heard from former University of Georgia wide receiver, New England Patriot, and literacy champion Malcolm Mitchell, who served as the event's keynote speaker. It was his second time doing so; the first time was in 2018. He was there to inspire and renew attendees' passion for taking on illiteracy. The former football player brought up the example of Frederick Douglass, a 19th-century former slave who became a leading abolitionist and writer after learning how to read. He famously said, "Knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom." Mitchell pointed out that slavery and freedom have different definitions now than they did in Douglass' time, but the pathway from one to the other remains the same.

"To me, freedom means having the confidence and the ability to acquire information and to use that information to better your own life, to be able to think critically, analyze statistics, think holistically, and make a series of decisions that lead you towards your desired outcome," Mitchell said.

Growing up in a single-mother home in Valdosta, football gave Mitchell an avenue to get to college, but he was ill-equipped for the advanced learning environment due to his lagging reading skills. He changed his fate, and now uses his story to try and do the same for others.

"I realized from my own personal experience that reading was the most impactful way to make a difference in a person's life," he said. "I'll phrase it differently. Reading was the most sustainable way to empower a person."

Mitchell is now a renowned children's author and founder of the Share the Magic Foundation, which has impacted over 600,000 young people since its creation in 2016. He speaks and reads to schoolchildren, sharing his journey to try and get them on the right path. His mission Wednesday was to remind educators to never give up on their students because you never know what they may become if given all the tools needed to succeed. Mitchell left the stage to lengthy applause, and summit attendees broke out to attend sessions on the future of literacy in Georgia, transformational approaches in teaching, using science to implement structured literacy and other topics.