October 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.

GLR Campaign Names New Chief Operating Officer

The GLR Campaign this week named Leslie Boissiere as Chief Operating Officer responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of our expanding enterprise.

Boissiere comes to the Campaign after nearly two decades of work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She served as Executive Director of the White House Council for Community Solutions and worked with AARP to address financial security for seniors and with Fannie Mae to promote homeownership in underserved markets.

“I’m excited to be joining a Campaign that has built so much momentum across the country,” Boissiere said.

She will manage the GLR Campaign daily operations as Managing Director Ralph Smith continues to travel across the country, meeting partners and community leaders in a role he describes as “lead champion and ambassador as well as chief strategy officer.”  Read more here.

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Network in Action, Tell Our Story to Promote Work in Communities

We have been so impressed with what the GLR Communities Network has accomplished in its first year and want to spread the word to our partners, funders and the media. Here is how you can help:

• Tell Our Story: 67 communities have submitted descriptions of their work, and we would like to share  these stories on Facebook, Twitter and the GLR website blog. We plan to start this work by Nov. 10. If you don’t want your submission to be featured publicly, or would like to edit it before going public, contact Susanne Sparks at susanne@smarterlearninggroup.com
• Network in Action: We are working on a brochure that you can share with partners and funders featuring what communities have been doing. We will also recognize the 34 communities who participated in Summer Learning Day, Attendance Awareness Month and Tell Our Story. We have lots of information, but are looking for high-resolution photos or graphics for the publication. If you have something to share, send to lpescatore@gradelevelreading.net

Mayors Launch Tour to Promote Educational Excellence

Four mayors who have emerged as leaders in the GLR Campaign – Julián Castro of San Antonio, Michael B. Hancock of Denver, Kevin Johnson of Sacramento and Angel Taveras of Providence – recently launched the Mayors for Educational Excellence Tour to share their strategies for transforming schools. They started the tour Oct. 17 in Denver and plan to visit Sacramento in December, Providence in January 2014 and San Antonio in March.

The learning tour is designed to share what is working and how to copy those successes in other cities. At the October launch, the mayors hosted a community forum to discuss the achievement gap and the role mayors can play in eliminating it, especially in communities of color. Click here for more information.

NGA Report Details Policy Steps for State Leaders

A report issued this month by the National Governors Association stresses the imperative for state leaders to take action to improve grade-level reading and outlines some key steps they can take. A Governor’s Guide to Early Literacy: Getting all Students Reading by Third Grade spells out how literacy and language development before children get to school can influence their success in school. It also stresses the role of parents, caregivers and teachers. Key policy steps include:

• Adopt comprehensive language and literacy standards and curricula for early care and education programs
• Create the environment to increase access to high-quality child care, pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten
• Engage and support parents as partners
• Equip staff providing care and education with key skills and knowledge
• Develop mechanisms to promote continuous improvement and accountability

NBC’s Education Nation Stresses Critical Role of Parents

The Education Nation Summit in early October focused on the need for parents to be deeply involved in their children’s learning – and how that process must begin long before kids head off to school. From talking more to their children to help build vocabulary and cognitive skills to alleviating toxic stresses in children’s lives, parents play a significant role in helping their children thrive academically.

Speakers included Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon who is leading the Thirty Million Words Project; Dr. Philip Fisher, a psychology professor and fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University; and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund.

“Every parent loves their child,” said Jonah Edelman, Marian’s son and CEO of Stand for Children. “What they need help with is how to help their child.” The Campaign expects to do just that through the planned Successful Parenting Initiatives that will seek to help low-income parents succeed in their roles as their children’s first teacher, best coach and strongest advocate.

“Growing Healthy Readers” Literacy Conference Focuses on Helping Families

Enabling at-risk students to succeed starts with giving their families the tools they need to support healthy development and academic growth in their children, education and health leaders emphasized during the recent “Growing Healthy Readers” literacy conference in New York City.

The Oct. 15 conference, hosted by Reach Out and Read of Greater New York in partnership with United Way of New York City and Scholastic, gave the leaders the chance to brainstorm solutions to the persistent achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers. Speakers, including GLR Campaign Managing Director Ralph Smith, covered topics such as parent engagement, school readiness, chronic absence and promoting wellness. Click here to read more.

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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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Museums, Libraries in GLR Network Receive Federal Grants

The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded $4.3 million in grants to 20 museums and libraries in 17 communities for work that promotes learning from birth through third grade. The projects range from creating comic books with kids in Brooklyn to training new librarians in Denver about early learning. They mark the second year of the GLR Campaign’s partnership with IMLS, which last year provided $2.5 million in awards.

The grants within GLR communities include: Boston Children’s Museum, New England Aquarium and USS Constitution Museum in Boston; Bronx Zoo and Brooklyn Public Library in New York; Hartford Public Library in Connecticut; Providence Community Library in Rhode Island; Port Discovery Children’s Museum in Baltimore; EdVenture in Columbia, S.C.; the University of Houston; and the University of Denver. Click here to read more.

National League of Cities Works with Six Cities on Educational Alignment

The National League of Cities has selected six cities for an initiative that will align efforts on behalf of children from birth through age 8 by strengthening connections within their communities and linking families to a broad range of supports and opportunities that help them thrive.

The Municipal Leadership to Promote Educational Alignment for Young Children, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, will be based in: Austin and Fort Worth, Texas; Hartford, Conn.; Longmont, Colo.; Richmond, Va.; and Rochester, N.Y.

City experiences show that a high-quality, well-aligned educational system for young children bridges the divide between early childhood programs and K-12 schools. For more information, click here.

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Alliance for Early Success, Child Trends Release Research Report on B-8 Policy Framework

The Alliance for Early Success recently released “The Research Base for a Birth Through Age Eight State Policy Framework,” a comprehensive report developed by Child Trends and designed as an “easy-to-reference one-stop shop” to support policies investing in health, family support and learning that can benefit vulnerable children and their families. Earlier this year, the Alliance released the Birth Through Age Eight State Policy Framework – developed collaboratively with GLR and other organizations – to help guide policy to improve health, learning and economic outcomes for young children. Click here to read the full research report.

“Investing in Our Future” Report Highlights Value of Investing in High-Quality Preschool

At a time when more people are recognizing the merits of sending all children to preschool, the “Investing in Our Future: The Evidence Base on Preschool Education” report examines the short- and long-term effects of early education programs on children’s school readiness and outcomes later in life. The report from the Society for Research in Child Development also looks at the importance of program quality and the costs versus benefits of preschool education. The report’s authors affirm earlier research that high-quality preschool is indeed a profitable investment – resulting in additional learning for children, from both middle- and low-income families, and as much as $7 saved for every $1 spent on preschool. Click here to read the full report.