Nine states will divide $500 million in federal grant money to foster early learning reform that will improve the quality of programs and the educational outcomes for children from birth to age 5, the White House announced this morning.

The states—California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington—were among 37 applicants for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Grant program designed to develop integrated systems for the youngest learners.

 

“If we as a country are going to be serious about closing the achievement gaps…one of the smartest things we can do is getting our babies off to a good start,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said as he announced the winners.

The infusion in federal cash for early learning will augment the work going on in cities that have joined the All-America City Grade-Level Reading network. The nine states that will receive grants have a total of 48 communities currently working on action plans to improve early literacy. These include large cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Charlotte, Raleigh, Providence and Seattle, as well as smaller places from Anacortes, Wash., to Zanesville, Ohio.

Their work focuses on creating stronger partnerships between city agencies, community organizations, and schools to tackle three problems that keep many low-income children from learning to read well: a lack of quality child care and preschool experiences in the early years, poor attendance in the early grades, and limited access to high-quality summer learning programs.

Ralph Smith, managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, applauded the federal investment in early learning as a down payment for better academic results, and ultimately, better economic progress for the nation.

“If we are to improve our high school graduation rates, we need to increase the number of students who are reading well by the end of the third grade,” said Smith, who is a senior vice president at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “But to reach that critical marker, we need to ensure that children are born healthy, developing on track, thriving by 3, and ready by 5.”

In a webinar Thursday co-sponsored by the Campaign, federal officials urged foundations to support not only the grant winners, but also other states that developed creative plans through the application process. To view the webinar, click here.

For a primer on the grant program, go to The First Five Years Fund website.