One of Sam Brownback’s goals as governor has been to reduce the number of Kansas children living in poverty. With 19 percent of the state’s children living in poverty, that goal remains elusive. After nearly four years in office, the governor himself acknowledges that not enough progress has been made. One of the programs designed to help reduce childhood poverty is the governor’s Kansas Reading Roadmap. The idea behind the project is to get “at risk” children to read more proficiently at an earlier age. Kansas Public Radio’s J. Schafer recently spoke to the man heading up the program, Andrew Hysell (HY-sull) -- and his assistant, Kimberly Fertig (FUR-tig).
Andrew Hysell (HY-sull) is the project director for the Kansas Reading Roadmap, the governor’s program to improve reading skills among third-graders. Kim Fertig also works for the project. They were speaking with KPR’s J. Schafer. You’ll find more information about the program by logging on to: ReadingRoadmap.org.