The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
GLR Campaign Welcomes Eight New Communities
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading this month welcomed eight new communities to our nationwide effort to increase early reading proficiency. The new communities include Birmingham, Ala.; Greater Surprise, Ariz.; Tolleson, Ariz.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Grinnell, Iowa; Emporia, Kan.; Gaston County, N.C.; and Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Va.
“We are thrilled to welcome the newest members of our growing network of communities,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. “Their commitment to this vital mission comes at a critical time when nearly half of the children in the United States under the age of 5 (the years of greatest brain development) live in extreme poverty. Together, we will do what it takes to ensure our nation’s most vulnerable children have the support and opportunities they need to thrive.”
Read the GLR Campaign’s press release announcing the new communities here.
Register Now for the 2016 Funder Huddle
Registration is now open for the 2016 Funder-to-Funder Huddle, to be held April 7-8, 2016, in Washington, D.C. Funders can expect an intensive peer learning experience, knowledge exchange and substantive work sessions with national experts and leaders. Funders will share and learn about:
- promising investments to help parents succeed
- what’s working to move the needle on school readiness, school attendance and summer learning
- tools for problem-solving and change management
- how successful messaging builds awareness that drives action
- Funding a GLR community or state
- Funding the nationwide GLR enterprise structure
- United Way funding a GLR community
Virginia Beach READS Receives Statewide Award
Virginia Beach READS, a program of the Virginia Beach GLR Campaign, was selected as a recipientof the 2016 Outstanding Mentoring Program Award by the Virginia Mentoring Partnership. Virginia Beach READS has been working since 2012 to identify the community’s strengths and needs in the core areas of school readiness, absenteeism and summer learning loss, and to collaborate with partners and local agencies to move the needle on grade-level reading. The award will be presented in March at a statewide gathering in Richmond.
Get Georgia Reading Releases Five New Videos
The Get Georgia Reading Campaign just released five new Early Learning Climate videos created for administrators, teachers, parents, policymakers — anyone with a stake in creating healthy classrooms in Georgia — that show how to apply positive learning climate practices in everyday classroom scenarios. The videos are the result of a collaboration among state agencies, nonprofits and foundations. While the videos were created with Georgia residents in mind, the information is applicable to any audience. Click here for more information and to view and download the videos.
Federal Government Takes Action on Chronic Absenteeism
The Obama administration this month announced two joint initiatives to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism. The My Brother’s Keeper “Success Mentors” initiative, run in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, aims to connect 1 million middle- and high-school students with mentors in the next three to five years. The program will operate in low-income neighborhoods in 10 participating cities, including Providence, Columbus, Boston, San Antonio and others. The second initiative is a multimillion-dollar parent engagement effort spearheaded by the Ad Council, Mott Foundation and the Department of Education. The campaign will include a website with attendance resources for parents.
Helping Parents Help Their Children
In a paper in the Brookings Institution’s Evidence Speaks series, Susanna Loeb and Ben York highlight why parents matter and ways to help them succeed. Using text messages as an example, they observe that “parenting programs … can succeed if they break down the complexity of parenting into small steps that are easy to achieve and provide continuous encouragement to parents over an extended period of time to hold attention. In doing so, they can tap most children’s greatest advocates and help to reduce the great inequalities that children face in early learning.” Read more about the GLR Campaign’s framework for successful parents here.
Iowa Launches Summer Reading Pilot
More than 40 schools and 1,800 students in Iowa will participate in a statewide pilot project this summer to provide intensive help for third-grade students struggling to read at grade level. Beginning in 2017, Iowa third graders who are substantially below proficient on grade-level reading tests will need to participate in a summer reading program to move on to fourth grade. Eight current and prospective GLR communities in Iowa have applied to be part of the pilot, and Iowa State Lead Becky Miles-Polka served on the committee that developed criteria for the program. “Our children will not be able to receive a globally competitive education unless they can read well from the start,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. “The governor and I want to do everything possible to support our local school districts as they work to make sure a high-quality summer reading program is ready to go by 2017.”
New Program Will Bring Free Books to D.C. Children
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser this month launched the District’s Books from Birth program, which will provide a free book each month by mail to children under age 5 in the city whose families sign up for the program. Parents who sign up will also receive tips on integrating literacy activities into everyday tasks like doing laundry or changing diapers. Nonprofit child literacy program and GLR Campaign partner Imagination Library will provide books for the program. “Parents who use books and who sing, talk and read with infants play a crucial role in giving their children a strong education foundation,” said Bowser at the program launch.
The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is accepting applications from public schools and public libraries anywhere in the United States and its territories for its mini-grants program. The funding program will award grants of up to $500 to educators to create special activities outside the standard curriculum and make time to encourage their students. Applicants must be located in the United States or its commonwealths or territories. Deadline is March 31, 2016.
A Snapshot of the State of Summer Learning
Many school districts, communities and states across the country are undertaking major steps to keep kids learning throughout the summer. In 2015, the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) tracked 172 state bills affecting summer learning. Overall, 22 states and the District of Columbia passed 40 pieces of legislation affecting summer learning. NSLA’s 2015 State Policy Snapshot analyzes trends in summer learning legislation and includes spotlights on topics such as early literacy.
Many Minnesota Districts Not Closing Achievement Gaps
Under a state law passed in 2013, all Minnesota school districts and charter schools are required to improve reading and math test scores while cutting achievement gaps by race and income. But aprogress report from the Minnesota Department of Education says that hundreds of districts are not closing those gaps. Districts missing their achievement goals include St. Paul and Minneapolis, the two largest urban districts in the state.