Abstract
Despite efforts to remediate reading skills since COVID-19 closed schools in 2020, students continue to struggle to meet grade level expectations in reading as measured by various state and national standardized tests. This raises alarm since reading achievement is correlated to positive life outcomes, yet knowing that students were failing to meet standards long before the pandemic speaks to a different kind of concern. As research continues to show that students who display signs of reading difficulties in early elementary eventually become students with significant reading difficulties in secondary school, there is a need to identify students for interventions before formal schooling starts. Parents must be empowered with tools to speak about their students’ literacy development at the time that matters most for effective intervention—preschool and kindergarten. Current research in screening, dyslexia legislation, response to intervention, teacher training and professional development, and parent-family partnerships was investigated to answer the questions (1) How can parents be empowered to advocate for their students’ literacy needs? (2) What knowledge do parents need to effectively communicate literacy concerns with educators? (3) How might a literacy screener used by parents differ from a literacy screener used by educators? (4) What features are included in current screeners for parents? These questions established the framework for constructing a literacy screener for parents of early school aged children. Criteria and design of the screener were selected through alignment of the National Early Literacy Panel’s list of skills that predict later reading achievement and a document review of Get Ready to Read! literacy screener. A parent’s knowledge is an important and accurate source of data that is often missing from a student’s educational profile. With increased empowerment and knowledge of how schools assess and determine intervention needs, parents can use research-based tools to help close the reading achievement gap and foster reading success.