May 2013

The GLR 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.

Washington Post Live Forum Focuses on Third-Grade Reading

Governors and chief state school officers will speak at a Washington Post Live forum on Tuesday, June 4, on state policy and grade-level reading. The Reading Milestones: States Target 3rd Grade Literacy event – co-sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the GLR Campaign and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation – will explore policy options such as early identification and intervention for struggling readers and third-grade retention. If you can’t be in Washington, D.C., the forum can be viewed on live stream starting at 9 a.m. ET here.

 

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Communities, Mayors Prepare to Celebrate Summer Learning

GLR communities across Arizona will participate in the first-ever Summer Reading Collaborative with a goal of having 100,000 students engaged in summer reading. Libraries in Dayton, Ohio, are coordinating a summer reading club in connection with the GLR effort. And mayors, gathering at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Las Vegas, are pursuing a resolution that calls on city leaders to determine what summer learning opportunities exist and pledge to expand them in coming years. Let us know about your summer learning activities by emailing Susanne@smarterlearninggroup.com or posting on the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) map. If you’re still in the planning stages, see these tools provided by NSLA or attend next week’s webinars.

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Boys & Girls Clubs Praised for Work in GLR Communities

GLR Campaign Managing Director Ralph Smith addressed a plenary session at the Annual Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Conference on May 1. Smith told of Boys & Girls Clubs’ involvement in coalitions representing 49 of the 125 GLR communities working to improve school readiness, combat chronic absence and stop the summer learning slide. In 11 GLR communities, the Boys & Girls Club also has initiated the SPARK Early Literacy Program, engaging parents and community members in literacy support for struggling young readers.

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Arkansas Launches Statewide Campaign

Arkansas officially has joined the GLR Communities Network, becoming the second state to submit a statewide Community Solutions Action Plan to boost grade-level reading proficiency. The Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is working with five communities across the state – Eudora, Little Rock, Marvell, Pulaski County and Springdale – toward the goal of 100 percent of Arkansas students reading at grade level by the end of third grade in 2020. Arizona also has a statewide approach.

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The GLR communities are advancing grade-level reading in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples:

• Literacy kits: In Brunswick, Georgia, the Baby Steps Early Literacy Initiative partnered with the College of Coastal Georgia to develop literacy kits for young readers. The kits, created by college students, were based on different themes, such as emotions, choices and environment. They will be rotated throughout local childcare centers, with priority for those serving low-income families. The project was made possible by a $7,000 grant from The Brunswick County Community Foundation.
• Outdoor reading trail: In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Pittsfield Promise citywide coalition opened the Born Learning Trail – a pathway through a park playground that features a series of signs aimed to encourage reading and other literacy activities for young children and their families.
• Community forum: In Atlanta, Georgia, the United Way of Greater Atlanta, Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students and the Annie E. Casey Foundation brought together stakeholders on May 10 to hear from national experts on school readiness, school attendance and summer learning loss and the importance of all three for reaching grade-level reading proficiency.
• PSAs and tutors: In Hartford, Connecticut, nearly 80 trained volunteers work with struggling readers once a week in two elementary schools. The program is a collaborative effort between United Way and Hartford’s GLR Campaign. Also, a new public service announcement from Achieve Hartford, a partner in the GLR coalition, encourages parents to prepare for their child’s first day of school and highlights the importance of attendance for student achievement.

California Forum Highlights Chronic Absence

Standing together before an audience of nearly 100 representatives of state and local agencies, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Secretary of Health and Human Services Diane Dooley discussed the need to work collaboratively to reduce chronic absence across California. “One of my top priorities is to address chronic absenteeism,” said Torlakson, emphasizing the need to get beyond truancy and look at all the causes of chronic absence. The Sacramento event included presentations from health agencies, district attorneys and social service departments, as well as a case study from Baltimore about interagency coordination there. Robert Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment, spoke about how attendance can serve as a powerful early warning system. “Chronic absence, at whatever grade, is a cry for help,” he said. “The data are pretty powerful that kids are headed for trouble.”

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Education Writers Focus on Grade-Level Reading

Early education and grade-level reading were featured frequently when 400 education reporters, researchers and advocates convened in early May for the Education Writers Association conference. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched the conference with a keynote on policy, including his early education proposal before Congress. “If we’re going to close the achievement gap, then we have to close the opportunity gaps,” he told the audience. Nobel laureate economist James Heckman spoke the following day about his research into the return on investment in early education. He also stressed the value of good parenting in setting a child on a course for success. “Parenting matters for all kids, not just low-income,” he said. In a panel discussion, W.K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO Sterling Speirn argued for helping those parents to help their children. “Being poor and doing all the right things for your child is hard,” he said. “We must figure out how to help them.”

One of the most provocative sessions included a fiery debate between two researchers about the wisdom of retaining third-grade readers. Martin West of Harvard pointed to test score gains after 10 years of retention in Florida and stressed that summer learning and tutoring also played roles in improving performance. Shane Jimerson of the University of California Santa Barbara called retention a “politically informed gimmick” that does little to improve reading skills. Another panel addressed the question of whether poverty or ineffective schools do more to thwart achievement for low-income children. “There’s more agreement that poverty matters immensely, but schools matter immensely, too,” said Mike Petrilli, executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

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Stay on top of all that is new with the Campaign and with the progress of grade-level reading by making regular visits to our 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 and state campaigns and read recent studies on child development and literacy.

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Family Literacy Grants Available for Communities

Communities working to promote family literacy and parent engagement can apply for grants under a new initiative sponsored by Toyota Family Learning and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). Toyota Family Learning aims to engage families in the learning process outside of the classroom, in homes and in communities. The initiative will grant $175,000 over a three-year period, as well as provide training and communications support from NCFL, to each of five organizations working to boost family participation in learning activities. Schools, libraries and community-based organizations that provide services to families are eligible to apply. Applications are being accepted through June 24 at www.toyotafamilylearning.org.

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Communities that have tried reducing chronic absence quickly realized that parents are a critical ingredient of any comprehensive strategy. Created with the help of practitioners who have worked successfully with families to improve attendance, this new toolkit from Attendance Works is filled with ideas, activities and materials to engage parents in promoting attendance. Bringing Attendance Homealso contains research showing a positive relationship between parent involvement and attendance, as well as the results of new studies examining parents’ attitudes about school absences and their implications for messaging and action. To access the full toolkit, click here.

A new resource is now available that makes the case for quality afterschool and summer learning programs.Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success is a compendium of studies, reports and commentaries by more than 100 thought leaders, including community leaders, elected officials, educators, researchers, advocates and other prominent authors – several of whom are connected to the GLR Campaign. This collection of nearly 70 articles presents bold and persuasive evidence and best practices from the field. To access the full compendium, click here. .