Melissa Williams Literacy Legacy Program

The Melissa Williams Literacy Legacy Program was established in 2022, after the sudden loss of Pre-K Paraprofessional Melissa Williams, a long-time employee for Royse City ISD.  Her passion and work in RCISD was to encourage young students to develop a love of reading.  Melissa loved reading time with her students and had recently even helped start a program called Reading Buddies. She always made sure her students' needs were met and that they never went without.  To honor her memory and love for her students, the Education Foundation established this initiative to enable underserved children to attend the book fair, shop, and purchase their own books to create additional opportunities for reading.

Studies show:

How important it is for early learners to become fluent readers and that struggling readers rarely catch up.

• There is a connection to low percentages of our educationally disadvantaged   students reading at or above the proficient level.
• Much of their learning takes place outside of school hours, which requires a   need  for books at home as well as engaging parents in their children's   literacy.
• Students selecting what to read is a major part of them becoming a reader
• The powerful effects that children's reading to their caregivers has on   promoting confidence as well as reading proficiency. 

Our hope with this program is that these early learners, who are educationally and economically disadvantaged, will have a chance to build their home libraries.  It is important  to us as a Foundation, as we transform learning, that students of all ages and abilities feel involved in their own education.  We want to launch them into literacy!