As a librarian at Anacostia High School, J. Hodge often collaborates with faculty and staff members in their endeavor to increase students’ reading fluency and comprehension. For the last three years, Literacy Night has been a tool in realizing that goal.
For Hodge, a crucial element of Literacy Night centers on bringing students and parents into one space and helping parents interpret triannual assessment data. From that point, all parties unite around a plan of action to take that young one’s reading skills to the next level.
“We have now grown into including all of the Anacostia feeder pattern schools,” Hodge told The Informer. “If there’s a student who is a struggling reader, we’ll look at the trends at elementary and middle school, with elementary. It’s [about] us unifying to see how we can leverage all of our resources to close the achievement gap.”
The most recent Literacy Night took place on Oct. 15 at Anacostia Neighborhood Library in collaboration with Ketcham Elementary School and Kramer Middle School. For two hours, Hodge led parents in exploration of Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment data while students explored the stacks and deepened their appreciation for the written word.
With two more MAP tests scheduled throughout the remainder of the school year, Hodge spoke about plans to host a couple more Literacy Nights. She pointed out that librarians at Ballou High School, Jackson-Reed High School, and MacArthur High School— along with their feeder elementary and middle schools— are already taking on similar projects.
Anacostia High School, however, continues to lead the charge with its nearby D.C. public library— a meeting spot for young people— as a partner.
“We know that most of our students frequent the public library on weekends or after school,” Hodge told The Informer. “The public library has an anime club and free tutoring. Since our students already go to the public library, we’re showing them how they can utilize some of the resources that are already in place to support structured reading, and just to be more intentional about utilizing the skills that will make students stronger readers.”
Two Parents Take On a Mission for Their Children’s Reading Fluency
At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, District education officials unveiled the 2024-2025 results of the D.C. Comprehensive Assessments of Progress in Education, also known as CAPE. Those results, heralded as the best in 15 years, showed student improvement in English and Language Arts, especially among economically disadvantaged students.
According to data compiled by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Anacostia had a CAPE participation rate of 85% on the English I and 74% on the English II portions of the assessment. Out of the 55 students who took that part, only 13— fewer than 25%— approached, met or exceeded expectations.
Fewer than 25% of the Black students who took the assessment overall approached, met or exceeded expectations.
MAP growth assessment data, administered by Northwest Evaluation Association, measures student learning and tracks progress in a range of subjects, including English and Language Arts. The adaptive test adjusts questions to each student, showing their learning level and zeroing in on their progress over time.
MAP provides data that paves the way for personalized instruction. However, as Anacostia High School community member Teairra Barnes told The Informer, charting a student’s path would most likely happen during conversations with Hodge and others who are familiar with the next steps to take.
“I knew what I was reading, but I still had to search and create ways to implement what needs to be developed,” said Barnes, the mother of a senior engineering student at Anacostia. “Even with my other children, I’m doing that now, trying to figure out how [my daughter] won’t see [reading] as a chore, but as fun, because learning is fun if you take it from a different perspective.”
Barnes, a former homeschool parent, counted among more than 100 people who attended Literacy Night at Anacostia Neighborhood Library in October. That night, she and several other parents collected printouts of their children’s MAP testing data. They later learned about the resources available to parents— including the Clever learning app.
Well before Oct. 15, Barnes served as a de facto ambassador of Literacy Night. She said she’s always encouraging parents to take full advantage of these family-oriented enrichment activities.
“The consistency makes a difference,” Barnes said. “Even with myself, being consistent with what we do or what we share, and what we make important, what we advocate for our children. That’s why you see us in meetings, making sure that…we ain’t going nowhere, and our children are going to get what they deserve right here.”
In the years leading up to her son’s freshman year, when she enrolled him at Anacostia, Barnes often relied on the public library as a tool in developing curricula. Although her child, a senior on an engineering track, exhibits a high level of reading fluency, Barnes said she still wants to push him to the next level.
Barnes said, had it not been for Hodge, she wouldn’t have known what D.C. Public Schools could families beyond the classroom.
“The websites have a lot of resources for the kids, but if you don’t know about it, and it takes a lot to get to…access it, you can’t work on it,” Barnes told The Informer. “I think that’s where the resources [come in], like going to the public library, speaking to the teachers, going to the parent-teacher conferences, and asking them how this can happen for my child.”
Anacostia parent Nisa Harper expressed her appreciation for the ambiance— including refreshments and activities— that Hodge and her Ketcham and Kramer counterparts created at the October Literacy Night.
“When parents are coming, they’re bringing multiple children straight from work, so the food part impacts someone coming to another event,” Harper told The Informer. “The few times I came, they had an interpreter for Spanish. Anacostia and Kramer [doesn’t] have a large Latino population, but the fact that they included the interpreter is inclusive. They even had art activities.”
Harper, the mother of a senior at Anacostia, also commended Hodge for her availability to parents who are eager to dissect the assessment data and understand what steps to take to push their young ones further along in their studies.
“Like I do the other assessments with my kids, I went through and I had questions,” Harper said as she recounted numerous instances when she emailed and spoke with Hodge. “ I highlighted like I do all the time and I went back to her with questions. And then she explained some things I still didn’t understand. She sat down with me and [showed me] this is what this means.”
Like Barnes, Harper always sets out to spread the word about Literacy Night. Though she’s made some progress, she acknowledges the hurdles that some parents have to overcome, especially as it relates to engaging complicated material.
“Even if you don’t [how to read the data], the key piece is there are educators like Ms. Hodge who will explain it to you,” Harper said. “The challenge is that a lot of parents in urban areas, because of their own educational background, do not go further to ask. Anything I don’t understand, I’m going to gain understanding if I have to go back, if I have to read it again, if I have to look at a YouTube video.”
One of Many Librarians Working Toward a Greater Goal
During the 2021 budget season, when D.C. Public Schools was in danger of losing full-time librarian positions, the D.C. Council funded those positions via a tax increase on the District’s highest earners.
Hodge has since counted among legions of librarians who, amid book bans in other school districts, are fighting to instill a love of reading in young people. Her efforts have compelled her to collaborate, not only with other librarians, but local organizations like CARE Anacostia that are dedicated to creating a village of support for young people.
For Hodge, similar logic applies when it comes to literacy. She calls it the foundation of a strong academic career.
“The students are reading in every subject area,” Hodge told The Informer. “You have to know how to read to solve math problems. You have to know how to read…to solve science equations. You should have a solid foundation in your primary language to acquire another foreign language. Even for health and PE, the students, in addition to the requirements, students do projects. They’re doing research. They’re creating.”
