The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a determined effort to mobilize philanthropic leadership around moving the needle on third grade reading over the next decade. This newsletter is a special report from our conference in Denver.
Conference Closes With Call to Action, Announcement of All-America City Awards
After nearly 50 workshops, sessions and table talks, conference participants gathered for a final plenary today that brought a call to action to work collaboratively to ensure more children learn to read well by the end of third grade.
“As we celebrate PaceSetters, as we celebrate finalists, as we celebrate All-America Cities, we recognize that we’re a network 124 communities strong,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. “We have too much to share with each other and much to teach each other.”
The National Civic League announced 14 All-America Cities based on the strength of plans they submitted to increase the number of the low-income students reading on grade level by the end of third grade.
“We were overwhelmed by the quality, passion and thoughtfulness of all the action plans submitted by more than one hundred cities, towns and regions,” said Gloria Rubio-Cortes, president of the National Civic League. “There is a real and deep commitment to ensuring that our children are prepared to succeed.”
The awardees are Baltimore, MD; Dubuque, IA; Louisville, KY; Marshalltown, IA; Pittsfield, MA; Providence, RI; Quad Cities, IA and IL; Roanoke, VA; San Antonio, TX; San Francisco, CA; Seattle and the South King County Cities, WA; Southern Pines, NC; Springfield, MA; Tahoe/Truckee, CA.
They were chosen from a list of 32 finalists, based on review by peers. A National Civic League panel chose the 14 awardees. Another 25 communities were recognized by the Campaign as Community Solutions PaceSetters for work that is already underway to improve school readiness, school attendance and summer learning.
Each of the finalists gave a presentation Sunday. Arizona’s statewide delegation played kazoo music. Madison County, NY, sang its presentation “If you teach a child to read,” to the tune of “If I only had a brain.” The Tri-County coalition from Colorado, Matagorda and Wharton counties in Texas led the audience in a rousing “Go Texas” cheer.
Smith reminded communities that the 2015-16 All-America City Awards will be based on how much progress communities have made toward improving early literacy. “It doesn’t matter where we start, it matters where we finish,” he said.
Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper Urges Communities to Tackle Early Literacy
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper spoke about his state’s efforts to boost early literacy and his own struggles with reading as a child, as he encouraged communities to tackle third grade reading.
Hickenlooper backed legislation that intervenes early with children who are struggling with reading and offers full-day kindergarten, tutoring and summer programs that help children read proficiently by the end of third grade. Parents would have a say in whether their children are retained if they don’t reach that milestone.
The governor described how dyslexia left him struggling with reading as a child and how his own mother was faced with a decision about retention. “That’s why I have a visceral reaction to kids who are struggling with reading,” he said. “As a society, we can address the challenges of early literacy.”
Workshops Guide Communities in Pivot from Planning to Performing
Nearly 50 workshops, sessions and table talks over two days provided community members, foundations and nonprofit partners with the advice they need to begin implementing the detailed plans they submitted to improve third-grade reading. In the ABCs of Federal Funding Streams, for instance, participants learned about the Learning to Read guide to federal financing sources and Policy Map, which tracks resources available at a community level.
In Building a Habit of Attendance: Every Day Counts, participants learned the basics about chronic absence from Attendance Works and heard from peers in Baltimore, Chula Vista, Grand Rapids, New Britain, New York City and Springfield, Mass. In Scaling What Works, the Helios Foundation in Arizona and Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque described how they are organizing their investments to maximize collective impact, using partnerships and data systems.
Representatives from Longmont, CO, told a story about their Bright EYES reading initiative, which was dependent on a single funding source–the city–from 2003 to 2010, When the economic crash prompted a 60 percent cut in funding, they scrambled to get grant funding which is now sustaining their effort and fueling the grade-level reading effort there.
Correction: Target Donates Books in Honor of Peer Reviewers
The Target Foundation is donating 1,000 books to schools, one each in honor of the 1,000-plus peer reviewers who helped judge applications for the All-America City Grade-Level Reading Award. Each community that applied for the award provided 10 reviewers who collectively submitted more than 2,700 reviews, which helped determine the finalists for the award. An item yesterday mistakenly said that Target would donate 1,000 book for each peer reviewer.
Quotable quotes
“Non-profits are like gerbils sometimes, running around the wheel and not getting anywhere. Part of the reason you are churning so hard is our fault: Foundations aren’t working strategically either. All of us have to change what we are doing and how we are doing it. It will take a while, but you will see a change in impact.”
Greater Cincinnati Foundation
“Some of these communities talk about cradle to career. We’re twinkle to wrinkle.”
Tri-County Coalition, Texas
Retweetable Tweets
#read2012 You can’t have a successful business in a failing society. Great words to remember. Campaign for Grade Level Reading
We’re retiring the #read2012 hashtag for the conference and will start using #cglr during the year. Our handle remains @readingby3rd.