Reading and culture: How the Pensacola Freedom School is empowering students
When Marquita McBride's three nephews come home from their summer program, they're excited to tell her about all the books they read that day.
Since starting the Central Gulf Coast Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School last month, McBride said she's seen improvements in their reading. That's the primary mission of the Freedom School, a six-week summer program that exploded in popularity this year.
"Reading is important. It's so important," McBride said. "They say money makes the world go around but reading actually makes the world go around. If you can't read, you can't get far into this world."
The Freedom School is a full-day program where students spend the morning in classes of 10 working on their reading skills. It's meant to curb reading loss over the summer and help kids make reading gains.
Freedom School is in its final week and will end Friday. Before students leave, they'll take a reading assessment to show whethe...