January 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 Campaign now is offering a second opportunity to join the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network.

Interested communities need to submit a letter of intent by April 1, and convene a cross-sector, sponsoring coalition with a designated leader and develop a Community Solutions Action Plan (CSAP) that addresses school readiness, attendance and summer learning. The CSAP will be reviewed by both peers and GLR Campaign Partners.

Network members enjoy priority access to experts, key policymakers, peer learning opportunities, media products, information on effective models and programs, and funders looking to invest in promising local efforts to achieve impact and scale. If you are interested, please contact Ron Fairchild at ron@smarterlearninggroup.com.

For more information on the process, read our Frequently Asked Questions.

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A notable grade-level reading partnership in Springfield, Massachusetts, was featured during a recent meeting at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development where representatives of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation described their Talk/Read/Succeed! program.

As part of the agency’s “Meet the Funder, Know the Work” series, the foundation and Springfield officials met with more than a dozen HUD officials on January 16 to explain the collaboration among community partners and the Springfield Housing Authority. Two local housing authority sites feature learning labs where families can learn about and participate in activities designed to promote literacy among children from birth to age 8.

The Meet the Funder session addressed the development of successful collaborations, especially how to bring together and involve those who might be considered unlikely partners. The Talk/Read/Succeed! program has nearly 30 community partners and is aligned with Springfield’s community-wide reading proficiency initiative, which was recognized with the All-America City designation. The initiative has helped increase the proportion of the city’s children reading on grade level by the end of third grade from 33 percent to 40 percent since 2009.

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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.

On March 1, the National Education Association will again sponsor its “Read Across America” day to celebrate the birthday of the beloved Dr. Seuss. Policymakers and educators across the country will don Cat-in-the-Hat hats and spend a portion of their day reading to young children.

This celebration represents an opportunity for GLR Partners and Network members to promote early literacy and share the news about the good work we’ve begun. NEA offers activity ideas and suggestions for communities interested in creating a reading event, and is calling for communities to share their efforts by submitting a video to SchoolTube’s Read Across America Channel.

The Campaign also has put together a media tips handout for communities interested in showcasing their hard work and can provide templates for media pitches, op-eds and editorial board visits. Please contact Phyllis Jordan at pjordan@gradelevelreading.net to find out more.

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Educators and policymakers who want to turn around struggling elementary schools should pay attention to preK and the primary grades to ensure that all students have a strong foundation for learning, according to a panel of speakers at the New America Foundation’s Turnaround 2.0: Tapping the Potential of the PreK-3rd Grades to Improve Schools. The January 14 event featured three strategies that have shown promise in improving early learning:

• FirstSchool, a preK-third grade initiative, works with public schools to provide more preK slots, higher-quality instruction and more equitable outcomes for low-income and minority students. In Lansing, Michigan, the school district has used the approach to restructure its schools.
• Every Child Ready, an approach used by the AppleTree Institute in Washington, D.C., focuses on delivering better preK programming by providing professional development and a curriculum that builds social, emotional and cognitive skills.
• The Community Schools model, deployed across the country, turns public schools into community hubs that offer a wide variety of programs and services such as health care and recreation. In Cincinnati, the Community Learning Center Institute has built early learning into these hubs, offering preK classes, home visiting, parent education and other support.

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The Harvard Graduate School of Education has published a series of one-page memos for policymakers and early learning leaders on how to improve early literacy. These Lead for Literacy one-pagers use research-based evidence and are designed to help leaders avoid common mistakes in early education programs. Each memo revisits assumptions that guide current policies and practices, outlines common pitfalls, and presents solutions to pressing issues. The full series of one-pagers is available on Harvard’s website.