The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
May 2012
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a determined effort to mobilize foundations, nonprofit partners, states and communities around moving the needle on third grade reading over the next decade.
Thirty-two communities have been named finalists for the All-America City Award, an honor that will be announced July 2, at the end of the Grade-Level Reading Community Network Conference in Denver. Another 25 cities and counties were named finalists for the Campaign’s own Pacesetter Honors.
The communities are among the 124 charter members of the national Network, all of whom have pulled together in extraordinary collaborative efforts to create plans that should increase the number of low-income children who are reading proficiently by the end of third grade.
The full Network will gather in Denver on June 30 to explore and share innovative strategies to turn these early literacy plans into action in their communities. The conference marks the official launch of the Network and of the determined effort to move the needle on third grade reading.
The All-America City Award finalists are drawn from 19 states, representing small towns with fewer than 50,000 people and large metropolitan areas with populations over 500,000. Ten finalists represent coalitions involving multiple jurisdictions, including two that stretch across state lines. One finalist represents an entire state: Arizona.
The finalists for Pacesetter Honors were chosen for their progress or outstanding contributions in school readiness, school attendance, summer learning and state-level leadership, or for their support of the Campaign, the Network, and/or the All-America City Award Process.
Every year the National Civic League holds a video contest to build excitement for its All-America City Award. This year, because of its partnership with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, the group is asking communities participating in the GLR Network to submit short videos on their groundbreaking efforts to get more students reading proficiently by the end of third grade. The videos are then featured on Facebook, where community members will be able to vote for their favorite.
The contest is completely voluntary, and will have no influence on the outcome of the awards. Rather, it’s an opportunity for communities to be creative and have some fun, while letting others know of the innovative work they are doing. For more details on the specs of the videos and how to deliver a video, see our blog post.
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.
Cities of Service is offering a new grant opportunity, made possible by Target and ServiceNation, to support implementation of the Third Grade Reads blueprint. The blueprint is a high-impact service strategy in which the mayor’s office leverages the power of volunteers to help children attain reading level proficiency by the beginning of fourth grade. Member of the Cities of Service coalition may be awarded grants of up to $40,000 to implement the blueprint. Applications are due July 16, 2012 and can be completed online here.
The Third Grade Reads blueprint outlines a service initiative in which volunteers tutor the highest need K-3 students in reading during school or in after-school programs through a partnership involving the mayor’s office, a local non-profit organization, and the school district. The grant program is administered by ServiceNation.
As our Network communities start building comprehensive plans to boost early literacy, we appreciate how different elements of a community–from schools, to small businesses, to libraries, to YMCAs–are coming together to take on the challenge of improving the city’s future.
It looks like the Department of Education agrees with us. The latest round of Race to the Top, announced this month, will deliver $400 million to school districts. And the department will pay close attention to whether districts have formed coherent and sustainable partnerships with public and private organizations. These partnerships, for instance, could be in the early education realm, supporting community-based child care in the district. We’ve seen such partnerships proposed by many of our network members, some of whom already have programs in the works.
The Department is accepting comments on its proposed language until June 8. Attendance Works Director Hedy Chang is urging the Department to refine its definition of student attendance to reflect chronic absence. Visit the Department website to register your support.
Less than half of low-income children–48 percent–are ready for school at age 5. This compares to 75 percent of children from moderate- and high-income families who are ready to go to kindergarten. A new report from the Brookings Institution looks at the reasons why poor children are less prepared for school and considers ways to improve their school readiness.
Everything from poverty to poor maternal health to parents’ education and parenting behaviors can work against low-income children. In fact, if you take demographic, health, and behavioral differences out of the equation, the school readiness gap shrinks from 27 percentage points to just 7.
But how should families eliminate these differences in? The report suggests a number of measures, particularly expanding access to preschool programs for 4-year olds.