The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
February 2013
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.
The critical importance of third grade reading was prominently featured at this week’s Building a Grad Nation Summit, a national conference on dropout prevention sponsored by America’s Promise Alliance. “A child who cannot read proficiently by end of third grade is four times more likely to be a high school dropout,” said Reba Dominski, Community Relations Director at Target Corporation, at a plenary session on Tuesday, February 26. GLR Campaign Managing Director Ralph Smith followed her on the stage, telling the audience of nearly 900 people: “We need to reach kids who are coming to school already behind, the kids falling behind due to absenteeism, and the kids falling behind over the summer.”
Later, the GLR Campaign’s Ron Fairchild and several GLR Network communities — Atlanta, Vero Beach, Fla., and Oakland, Calif. — spoke about the nationwide effort at a concurrent session sponsored by Target. “We were fighting the ground war. Now the Campaign is bringing in the air war and creating a national movement,” said Barbara Hammond of The Learning Alliance in Vero Beach.
The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation hosted a policy briefing with the GLR Campaign on Monday, February 25, to explore how to connect the nationwide push to ensure that more students read proficiently by the end of third grade with efforts to help children with dyslexia and other learning differences.
In his keynote address, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin spoke about his childhood experiences with dyslexia and his proposed legislation emphasizing early education and personal learning plans for every student. “We need to give teachers the training they need to teach every child to read,” Shumlin told the crowd gathered at the National Press Club. His remarks were followed by a panel discussion about policy initiatives that can help identify dyslexic students and other struggling readers and how evidence-based curriculum and instruction can help all children learn to read.
The Tremaine Foundation and the GLR Campaign recently released a study “Don’t Dys Our Kids: Dyslexia and the Quest for Grade-Level Reading Proficiency.”
Arizona has been named a “Pacesetter State” by the GLR Campaign for its philanthropic leadership and the shared commitment in communities across the state to “put a stake in the ground” around third grade reading.
The Campaign’s formal statement applauds the initial convening partners of Read On Arizona — Helios Education Foundation, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, Arizona Community Foundation, Valley of the Sun United Way, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, United Way of Northern Arizona and United Way of Yuma — as well as the other founding and core partners: Arizona Department of Education, First Things First, and Head Start State Collaboration Office.
Their efforts led to five Arizona communities becoming charter members of the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network. Read On Arizona continues to gain momentum and new partners. Among the supporters are BUILD AZ, Expect More Arizona, Arizona Ready Council, Children’s Action Alliance, Arizona State Library, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University and members of the Arizona Community College System.
What is the connection between the federal Medicaid expansion and grade-level reading? A February 24 op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer, penned by Greg Landsman of the Strive Partnership and the GLR Campaign’s Ralph Smith, explained how increasing the number of insured parents would expand health care access for children.
They wrote: “In some cases, these children may already be eligible for health insurance through a state program. But research shows that parents who lack insurance are three times more likely to have children who also are uninsured. When Medicaid expands for adults, past experience shows, children go to the doctor more frequently.”
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. Also, please share news from your organization or community so that we can include it in the next newsletter. Contact Phyllis Jordan at pjordan@gradelevelreading.net.
We continue to see great work among members of the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network to engage children in reading activities and promote the power of literacy. On February 4, Families in Schools launched its annual Million Word Challenge, in which Los Angeles County students, pre-K through 12th grade, take on the challenge of reading millions of words outside of the classroom. When the contest draws to an end on April 5, a winning student from each participating school will receive a $50 gift certificate to purchase books.
This year, more than 400 schools and agencies from 40 school districts in the county registered for the event. To learn more about the Million Word Challenge, check out the Families in Schools fact sheetor watch the Million Word Challenge video.
Tomorrow is “Read Across America,” celebrating the birthday of the beloved Dr. Seuss. We hope you are taking advantage of the chance to promote the good work your organization or community is doing to support early literacy. If you participate in an event this year, please share your photos, videos or information with the Campaign by loading them onto the Ning site or sending them to pjordan@gradelevelreading.net.
Amid the news about President Obama’s early education plan, many governors and state legislators have made early literacy and grade-level reading a priority in their legislative sessions. Here are some highlights:
- Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) proposed a 60 percent increase in preschool funding in the state, with the goal of having a universal preschool system in place within 10 years, declaring, “I truly believe by allowing greater access to a voluntary pre-K education, we will change the lives of children in Alabama.”
- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) proposed restoring the length of the school year for the state’s pre-K program to a full 180 days, raising the salaries of teachers in the program, and continuing the Reading Mentors program he created last year to increase the number of children reading on grade level.
- Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) proposed expanding full-day kindergarten in the state and creating a program to match private funds donated to preschool providers in the state.
- Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) called for nearly $57 million in spending to expand access to preschool programs and $60.5 million to “enhance the quality of early education programs and the effectiveness of the early educator workforce.”
- Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) included a large increase in preschool funding in his recent budget proposal — from $109 million this fiscal year to $174 million in 2014 and $239 million in 2015.
- Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) proposed the “Third Grade Reading Gate” bill, which would not allow third grade students to be promoted if they score poorly on a state reading test.
- New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) has proposed the Academic Success Through Remediation Act, which would retain students who are not reading at a minimal level by the end of third grade. She also has proposed $13.3 million for early reading initiatives.
- Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) proposed Achievement Everywhere, which would provide $1.2 billion in new state funds for education, part of which would be dedicated to increasing access to quality early childhood programs for disadvantaged students and helping to make sure these students meet Ohio’s new Third Grade Reading Guarantee.
- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) is proposing to increase spending for early education programs to $384.4 million, with the most funding going to Early Intervention programs, as well as Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance.
- In Washington State, Senate Bill 5237 would make third graders who score near the bottom on a statewide reading test repeat the grade and require educators to provide more targeted help to improve literacy among the retained students.
For more information on education-related issues mentioned in governors’ recent state of the state addresses, check out Education Week’s special coverage of the speeches. The Education Commission of the States also offers a comprehensive database of third grade reading and literacy legislation as it is introduced across the nation.
| Great news from America’s Promise Alliance’s 2013 Building a Grad Nation Report: the United States is finally on track to meet the national Grad Nation goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the class of 2020. Other key findings include: | |
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