Pinellas schools had a reading problem. Here’s how they’re tackling it.

ST. PETERSBURG — Westgate Elementary School fifth grader Dylan Dixon says he doesn’t really like reading all that much.Dylan came to the Pinellas County school district’s inaugural Camp Read Strong, he said, because “my mom said it would be a nice learning opportunity.”After reading the day’s two artificial intelligence-themed books, and getting started on a challenge to recreate a robot poster by drafting prompts for an AI chatbot, the 10-year-old couldn’t hide his enthusiasm as he wrote his ideas in dry erase marker on a white-board table.“Most of the time, we just do classroom,” he said of his usual school experience. “This is much better, way more fun.”That type of response was the goal, said Bronwyn Slack, the district’s coordinator of library media technology. Reading is an important skill, Slack said, but if kids don’t enjoy it and see how it connects to their world, they don’t do it.“This is where we take it out of isolation,” Slack said. “We’re going to anchor them with a text and branch out. It’s what we have to do with the reading material. How are you bringing it to life for the kids?”Four years ago, about 1 in 5 Pinellas third graders scored at the state’s lowest level in reading, as did nearly a quarter of tenth graders. Just a decade ago, Florida rated five Pinellas elementary schools serving largely poor minority communities among the 15 worst schools for reading in the state.For the past few years, Pinellas has made early literacy a priority, placing intense focus on teaching the youngest students how to read by building from the basics of letter identification and phonics . The effort has started to pay off, superintendent Kevin Hendrick said, as he told school board members how Pinellas third graders hit an all-time high for being on grade level on the state’s spring 2025 reading test. Just 14% scored at a Level 1, which put them at risk for retention, compared to 22% statewide.The goal, Hendrick said, is to build upon these latest successes so children keep improving as the material becomes more difficult. One of the keys to ensure students continue reading is to get them to enjoy it. That’s not always an easy task, as many teachers assign only passages attached to lessons, and books compete with video games and other forms of instant gratification.By the time children get to high school, “they read for classes. They’re not reading for pleasure,” said Yvonne Cooper, media specialist at Palm Harbor University High School, one of the summer camp’s teachers. That can make it a chore, one that they’re willing to rush through or ignore.The district has employed a variety of initiatives to turn the tide.Of particular concern has been boys’ reading skills. For more than a decade, district educators have seen a persistent achievement gap in which girls outperform boys , launching several targeted programs such as a boys’ book battle to narrow the divide.This summer, the district aimed to promote third- to fifth-grade boys’ interest in reading through fun projects that almost had the kids forgetting they had been reading at all. The first day had the boys making solar s’mores — melting them in special boxes set in the sun — after reading two books about cooking. Westgate fifth grader Jonah Walia named that activity as one of his favorites, and then held forth on his theory for why the marshmallow and chocolate melted more quickly in a white box than a black one. He speculated it had to do with heat absorption and radiation.The second day found the boys, who came from schools across the county, forgetting that they read about bridges and construction before using Minecraft to build their own bridges and compete in a tallest tower challenge. The next day came robotics and AI, including using computers to design their own robot, which the computer would paint with watercolors based on their instructions.“We’re reading, except doing other things like math and science,” said Elisa Nelson Elementary third grader Christian Burgess. “Sometimes the books have have math and science, and it makes it more interesting.”Westgate media specialist Shelley Kappeler, one of four educators running the camp, said the students’ focus indicated that the idea had merit.“We want them to collaborate and connect to those activities and to their real lives,” Kappeler said. “If without realizing it, they got the content from books, that is what makes the camp successful. They know what books can bring to them.” If the response is positive, Slack said the district expects to expand the camp. She also hoped it would influence classes throughout the school year as teachers create lessons that help students make more connections between reading and life.“There are going to be different skills these kids need when they graduate,” Slack said. “We have to think outside the box.”

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Pinellas schools had a reading problem. Here’s how they’re tackling it.

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Pinellas schools had a reading problem. Here’s how they’re tackling it.

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