The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
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Rhode Island Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Kicks Off
“Our goal is to move the needle with urgency to increase the percentage of children reading at grade level by the end of third grade,” said Tony Maione, CEO and president of the United Way of Rhode Island. “No one group can do this work alone, and it will take a long-term, steadfast commitment by everyone to see it through to success.” Rhode Island recently released data showing that just 37 percent of the state’s third graders were reading proficiently, with large achievement gaps by income and race. Innovation Brief Explores Partnership with StriveTogether
In many of the 26 communities where the GLR Campaign and StriveTogether overlap, communities are combining an intensive focus on improving grade-level reading proficiency among children from low-income families with a well-defined process for achieving collective impact. “Many of the Network’s partnerships have taken advantage of what the Campaign offers to improve outcomes in school readiness, school attendance and summer learning — and ultimately, grade-level reading,” says Jennifer Blatz, a StriveTogether senior director. Read the full innovation brief here. U.S. Education Department Virtual Summit on Chronic Absence Draws 1,300+ Nearly 1,400 educators, social workers, administrators and advocates joined a virtual summit with the U.S. Department of Education, outlining the new federal Every Student, Every Day initiative to eliminate chronic absence. Two GLR communities — New York City and Grand Rapids, Michigan — shared their approaches to reducing absenteeism in the early grades. In both communities, the local campaigns are bringing together faith leaders, businesses, foundations and other partners to convey the importance of attendance and track absences. Two of the nation’s leading experts on absenteeism — Johns Hopkins researcher Bob Balfanz and Attendance Works Director Hedy Chang — discussed the causes of and solutions to chronic absence. If you missed the summit, or want to review the materials and remarks, click here for a full list of resources.
Quad Cities Makes Shared Data a Reality The Quad Cities (Iowa/Illinois) community has created a data “warehouse” to more accurately identify needs and track outcomes for young readers. With eight school districts in two different states, data sharing in Quad Cities is both critical and very complex. The community’s software provider, impressed by how quickly the campaign brought the project to scale, has produced a white paper on the effort. Click here to download the paper and learn how Quad Cities overcame substantial challenges to build a strong data-sharing network. Editorial Applauds Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Following a year of efforts to combat chronic absence, attendance at Samoset Elementary School in Manatee County, Florida, leapt to 97 percent, a big increase from last year’s 89 percent. Attendance Works Director Hedy Chang spoke at Samoset to lift up its success, and the Bradenton Herald this month applauded the work of the local Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Click here to read the editorial.
NPR Puts Spotlight on Attendance
Brooklyn School Raises Literacy Despite Serious Challenges Public School 446 in Brooklyn, New York, serves a community with some of the highest rates of student homelessness and absenteeism in the city. Principal Meghan Dunn has spearheaded an approach that focuses on meeting students’ physical and emotional needs first, and the results are impressive — particularly students’ reading proficiency. Partnerships with social workers and local foundations also have been key. Kentucky Holds First School Readiness Summit
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear spoke at the state’s first-ever School Readiness Summit in Frankfort. The Governor’s Office of Early Childhood said the summit was designed to help school districts, early learning providers and community organizations collaborate to promote student achievement from birth through third grade. Twenty-five teams representing 23 Kentucky counties were invited to the summit.
2016 All-America City Awards Will Put Focus on Health The National Civic League has announced that next year’s All-America City Awards will highlight community-wide health and education efforts, ranging from healthy food programs to positive disciplinary interventions to housing improvements. School attendance and healthy school projects are particularly welcome, as the partners in the 2016 award program include Attendance Works and the Healthy Schools Campaign, a national nonprofit that advocates for healthier school environments. In years past, GLR communities have been well represented among All-America City Award applicants and awardees. Click here to learn more and start your application.
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is offering GLR communities an opportunity to participate in a research-based summer learning program in 2016. RIF has secured funding that would enable up to 50 schools across the country to receive matching grants of up to $10,000 to fund a Read for Success summer learning program for K-3rd grade students. Click here to learn more about the program and how to apply.
Attendance Works Updates Holiday Messaging Toolkit For schools and community partners, the winter holidays are a particularly challenging time for combating chronic absence. Attendance Works has just updated its holiday messaging toolkit to incorporate new research on parental attitudes and include ideas for activities on the last day before vacation and the first day back. A parent survey in the toolkit suggests that families would be willing to shorten vacations if they saw evidence that absences affected academic success. Mixed-Age Head Start Classrooms May Harm Older Students A new national study suggests that Head Start classrooms that serve children of mixed ages hurt the academic growth of older students. About 75 percent of all Head Start classrooms were mixed-age as of 2009. The study found that having a higher proportion of 3-year-olds in a given classroom was linked to lower gains in math and literacy skills among 4-year-olds. |
On November 24, the United Way of Rhode Island, in partnership with Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, 
The GLR Campaign released a 
Previewing the U.S. Department of Education virtual summit on combating chronic absence, NPR detailed efforts to increase attendance at Wolfe Street Academy in Baltimore. Most students at the elementary school speak Spanish at home and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and outcomes were very poor when principal Mark Gaither took over 10 years ago. 
Matching Funds for Summer Learning 