MACON, Ga. — 5th grader Ali Khan loves to read.
"I kind of imagine what the characters look like and it feels like I'm in the book, like it's a movie," Khan said.
Kara Eddy teaches her fifth grade students about character development, which can be a challenge if they aren't already reading on grade level.
"Some are at a lower reading level than 5th grade, and so it's really important in the lower grades to try to remediate early to find out where the error is lying," Eddy said.
Tanzy Kilcrease, Bibb County's Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, says they're making progress.
"We understand that in order for students to be college- and career-ready, they have to be literate," Kilcrease said.
The percentage of students grades third through eighth reading on grade level has increased from 50.8% in 2016, to 57.5 percent in the spring of this year.
"Our board approved for us to implement MATT Scholar, which is an explicit phonics program for our K-second grade students," Kilcrease said.
Phonics is a program that teaches students to break down sounds and put together words before third grade.
Another program helps their sixth-eighth grade students with comprehensive reading skills.
"Students are aware of their test scores throughout the year and keep track of their improvements," Kilcrease said.
Students are aware of their test scores throughout the year and keep track of their improvements.
"They look at their data every week and they track it, and then they know the numbers they want to climb to to make their growth by the end of the school year," Eddy said.
You can bet Khan keeps a close eye on his. "950," he said.
While Bibb County is making progress, it's still chasing the state average on most reading scores.
In Georgia, 73% of third-graders are reading on grade level. In Houston County, it's 79%.