64% of students in Fort Worth are NOT reading on grade level.

Parents and caretakers are either given an inaccurate report of their child’s performance or information related to their children’s grade levels is provided in a confusing format. Meanwhile, children continue to fall behind.

Parent Shield Fort Worth prides itself on meeting parents where they are. This means staff spends much of their time knocking on doors, speaking to parents at schools, libraries, and community events. From this grassroots approach to building relationships, Parent Shield hears directly from parents in Fort Worth’s most marginalized communities about their dreams and challenges.

After listening to dozens of parents, Parent Shield’s leader Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, believed that an independent literacy assessment would be necessary and a powerful data point in the hands of parents. If parents get real time, honest feedback from certified teachers about their children’s skill level, it would motivate them to equip themselves to support their children and advocate for others.

Dorsey-Hollins also gleaned from the information collected, that parents are unaware of their children’s reading level and discovered problems with truth-in-reporting. The latter stems from report cards offering an inaccurate account of a child’s true skill level. To wit, A’s and B’s do not equate to fully literate students. To address these challenges, in July 2023, Parent Shield leaders decided to take a comprehensive approach to tackle Fort Worth’s literacy crisis, a one-stop shop. Additionally, the campaign would include an intergenerational component, educating parents while children are assessed.

In channeling the biblical verse “the truth will set you free,” Parent Shield’s Freedom July campaign to address the literacy crisis in Tarrant County was successful from start to finish.