Six States Win Federal Literacy Grants
Six states have been awarded $180 million in federal grants to create and implement comprehensive programs for improving literacy for children from birth through 12th grade, the U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday. The states – Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Georgia, Nevada, and Montana – received grants ranging from $7.6 million to $66.5 million as part of the Education Department’s Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program. The funds will support “programs that advance literacy skills through professional development,... ... More »

Sacramento Kicks Off Reading Campaign
Hundreds of Sacramento parents, students, and residents joined local educators and dignitaries this week to help launch the city’s grade-level reading campaign. Mayor Kevin Johnson kicked off the effort—one of the first and largest citywide initiatives of its kind in the nation—with a community literacy fair and press conference. Targeting early literacy and ensuring students’ success up to third grade, Mayor Johnson said, is sure to impact public education all the way through high school. “Reading... ... More »

Award Brings City Leaders to the Table
Cities across America can talk about their school readiness programs,  attendance campaigns and summer learning initiatives. But few cities pull all three community solutions together to move the needle on third-grade reading proficiency. That’s why we’re so excited that next year’s All-America City Awards will go to communities that have developed the most comprehensive, realistic and sustainable plans to increase grade-level reading proficiency by the end of third grade. Communities across the country are building coalitions and developing or expanding... ... More »

Federal Officials to Offer Waivers on NCLB Proficiency Requirements
President Barack Obama gave the go ahead yesterday for the U.S. Department of Education to waive the key accountability requirements for states under the No Child Left Behind Act, a move intended to provide "relief in return for reform," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement yesterday. States would not have to meet the requirement that 100 percent of students reach proficiency in math and reading by 2014 if they can demonstrate they are making progress in... ... More »

Most States Interested In Early Learning Challenge
Three dozen states and the District of Columbia have expressed interest in applying for Race to the Top -- Early Learning Challenge grants, which will provide $500 million in competitive funding for proposals that push improvements in early childhood programming. According to this Politics K-12 blog post on the Education Week site, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi,... ... More »