The Campaign is a collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, states and communities across the nation to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career and active citizenship.

We’re delighted to share the news that several communities working with us to improve grade-level reading were among the 17 recipients of Promise Neighborhood Grants announced by U.S. Department of Education today. The federal grant programs rewards comprehensive, neighborhood-based efforts to embrace children from birth and carry them through college with the right educational, health and community supports.

“This work aligns perfectly with the Campaign’s efforts to create a seamless system of support for children from birth through third grade,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of the Campaign. “I congratulate all the communities involved and look forward to seeing how they leverage these resources to help our most vulnerable children.”

Five cities in our Grade-Level Reading Communities Network — Boston and Roxbury, Mass.; Chula Vista, Calif.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.— received money to implement proposals. Four others — Baltimore, Md; Camden, NJ; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Newark, NJ — received planning grants to advance their work.

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The Campaign and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) convened a meeting in early December to explore ways to carve out a larger role for libraries and museums in advancing early literacy. Opening the session — which also included policymakers, practitioners and funders — Campaign Managing Director Ralph Smith praised the federal institute as an energetic and forceful partner with the depth and reach to expand and enrich early childhood experiences. This fall, IMLS awarded $2.5 million in grants for a wide range of programs supporting early reading. Richmond, California, for instance, will expand digital literacy, while Richmond, Virginia, will put its grant toward a summer learning program.

At December’s meeting, participants heard about innovative ways that libraries and museums already are engaged – for instance, Miami-Dade trains all public library staff in pre-literacy skills and brain development – and discussed opportunities and avenues for an expanded role.  The session concluded with agreement on several next steps, including:

• Accelerating library and museum partnerships in the communities that are part of the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network
• Developing a report that will address how libraries and museums can strengthen relationships with civic leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders at the local, state and federal levels
• Continuing to look at ways that IMLS can help libraries and museums fulfill their important role in advancing early literacy.

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As we wish you and yours a most happy holiday season, here are some Holidays to Read By in the New Year. There’s Read Across America Day on March 4 celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday. There’s National Drop Everything and Read Day on April 11. There’s National Family Literacy Day on Nov. 1. These occasions and many more create opportunities to bring together partners and policymakers to reinforce the importance of early literacy.

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Stay on top of all that is new with the Campaign and with grade-level reading by making a regular visit to the website: www.gradelevelreading.net. The site offers a comprehensive news source on issues related to early childhood, reading development, and achievement. Additionally, get the latest updates on federal initiatives, state campaigns and local efforts, or read recent studies on child development and literacy.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited an elementary school in one of Washington, D.C.’s most challenged neighborhoods to point to a model of family engagement that is helping transform education.

At DC Scholars Stanton Elementary School, teachers make home visits and phone calls to establish a connection with every family. Parents don’t just read to children, they test their reading fluency and share the results with teachers.

The result has been extraordinary test score gains as well as a much calmer, more supportive climate for learning. It’s an approach that Education Department officials say could work for schools nationwide and one that dovetails with the Campaign’s strategies for advancing third grade reading. “We’re trying to move from feel-good parental engagement to results-driven parental engagement,” Secretary Duncan said at a Dec. 5 event at Stanton.

Karen Mapp, a Harvard Graduate School of Education lecturer who is a consultant to the Education Department, shared her draft framework at the event for a national approach to family engagement. It includes emphasizing four Cs among staff and families: capabilities, connections, cognition and confidence. It also calls for creating systems and processes that link engagement efforts to schools’ academic goals.

Parents and teachers at the Stanton event praised the new approach, which is supported through a partnership with the Flamboyan Foundation and Scholar Academies. As one father, Michael Hudson said, “Parenting starts at home, and teaching starts at home.”

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A new initiative led by the nonprofit National Center on Time and Learning and the Ford Foundation aims to extend the school day or school year for nearly 40,000 students across five states. The school districts involved in the TIME Collaborative will provide 300 extra hours a year of instruction and enrichment.

In many cases, community nonprofits and volunteers will be tapped to provide extra support to the schools, an approach that complements the Campaign’s efforts to engage the entire community in promoting early literacy.

Ford will provide $3 million in capacity-building grants over the next three years to the districts involved in Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee. The districts will pay for the extra time with a mix of federal and state dollars, and NCTL will provide technical assistance. Read more about in our blog post.

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The U.S. Department of Education awarded $400 million in grants last week to 16 applicants—representing 55 school districts across 11 states and Washington, D.C.—in the Race to the Top-District competition. The recipients include a consortium of seven school districts in the Seattle area involved in the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network. The Road Map Project will use the $40 million in federal cash to provide all high-need elementary students with a summer reading plan, support preschool and early learning programs, and improve instruction for English Language Learners, among other K-12 priorities. Here’s an annual results report on the projects so far.

Other grants that include preK-third education in our Network include $28.5 million to the Metropolitan School District of Warren Township near Indianapolis and $16.6 million to the St. Vrain Valley Schools in Longmont, Colo.

A new report from the Campaign, the New America Foundation and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop found a “digital Wild West” of technology products that promise to teach reading but offer parents and educators little evidence of what works or how to use emerging technology effectively. Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West: Empowering Parents and Educators also looks at several nascent but promising initiatives in early childhood and elementary school programs that have taken different approaches to technology, harnessing its power to assist teachers and parents in helping children learn to read. Read more about the report here.