2012 All-America City Grade Level Reading Awards

2012 All-America City Grade Level Reading Awards

The National Civic League recognizes ten communities each year for outstanding civic accomplishments. To win, each community must demonstrate innovation, inclusiveness, civic engagement, and cross sector collaboration by describing successful efforts to address pressing local challenges.

The award program was founded in 1949 when a newspaper reporter approached the National Civic League (then known as the National Municipal League) with the idea of naming the 10 best governed cities each year. Instead, the league created a program that recognized cities for civic achievements.

The National Civic League is adding its support to national efforts to address a persistent challenge in education: increasing the number of low-income children reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

2012 All-America Cities
Baltimore, Maryland
created a Grade-Level Reading Campaign to achieve three goals by 2020: 1) Average daily attendance of 97 percent for students in grades K-3. 2) More than 80 percent of students reading at grade level by the end of third grade. 3) More than 80 percent of all children fully prepared for kindergarten.
Dubuque, Iowa
coalition plans to connect more 4-year-olds to preschool, expand opportunities for 3-year-olds, and partner with local colleges to provide professional development for teachers, para-educators, and childcare providers. This process will ensure that early learning aligns with the primary grades.
Louisville, Kentucky
Every1Reads initiative: 100% of third graders will be reading on grade level by 2020. In addition, 80% of Jefferson County public school preschoolers will enter kindergarten “ready to learn,” and 90% of the system’s pre-K to third graders will attend school for 95 percent of the school year.
Marshalltown, Iowa
increase the number of children reading proficiently by the end of third grade to 90% by the year 2016. Other goals for 2016 are: 85% of children entering kindergarten will be ready to learn.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
encourage teen moms to read to their children, creating programs like Third Thursdays – a monthly celebration of literacy.
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence Children and Youth Cabinet (CYC), a cross-sector collaborative of public, private, and nonprofit leadership focused on improving outcomes for all of Providence’s children.
Quad Cities, Iowa and Illinois
create a system of support for existing programs (both within and outside the school districts) that makes it easier to share resources across both district and state boundaries.
Roanoke, Virginia
Star City Reads committee to respond to the area’s core challenges in early education.
San Antonio, Texas
launch a campaign in both English and Spanish to raise awareness about the value of “Talking, Singing, Reading, Writing, and Playing,” the five components of its Every Child Ready to Read initiative.
San Francisco, California
San Francisco United School District, First 5 San Francisco, the Office of Mayor Edwin M. Lee, and the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families have come together to develop a plan to double the number of third graders who are reading at grade level by the end of the decade.
Seattle and South King County Cities, Washington
Road Map Project aimed at dramatically improving student achievement from cradle to college and career.
Southern Pines, North Carolina
increasing the number of children enrolled in high quality child care and early childhood education; creating learning opportunities for low-income preschool children not enrolled in formal care; facilitating communication between early care providers and kindergarten teachers; and expanding number of at-risk children who participate in quality inter-session and summer learning programs.
Springfield, Massachusetts
Reading Success by Fourth Grade Campaign: educate parents, guardians, and childcare providers about their role in supporting early literacy and skill development through programs such as Ready! For Kindergarten; and providing more efficient training for teachers of all students in the fourth grade and below to boost early literary skills.
Tahoe/Truckee, California
Reads Campaign first met in fall 2011 to plan how community groups will increase the percentage of students reading at grade level by the end of third grade to 80% by 2020.

Literacy Tribune Newsletter: July 2012

Literacy Tribune: July 2012
The Adult Learner Network Newsletter

United Literacy, a non-profit organization, provides resources and support to adult literacy learners in the United States. Its aim is to make literacy education accessible and worthwhile for adult learners.

Main Story: Getting it off & Keeping it off: First Steps: By Julia Pusztai, MSN RN, Director, The Neighborhood Wellness Center

A History Lesson: The Social Security Act of 1935
On June 8, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Congress that he wanted to start a program for social security.

Member Spotlight: Joe Buford
Learning to read and write has changed everything for Joe Buford, an adult learner of the Nashville Adult Literacy Council.

Technology Watch: LibreOffice for Students and Non-Profits
It is at the top of my list of “must-have” software. It's free. You get a complete office suite

The Literacy Tribune is looking for adult learner writers.
Are you an adult learner ?
Do you want to write ?
Do you want to publish your writing ?

You can write about:
Your road to literacy
Your literacy organization
Literacy resources you like
You can write book reviews, poetry, short stories
You can write articles about health, finance, or technology
You can write just about anything !

Literacy Calendar: July 2012

Literacy Calendar: July 2012

For More

Literacy, Library and Education

Events & Conferences

visit

Southern California Library Literacy Network’s Calendar

July 12+ Conference of the Americas: Riviera Maya, Mexico
July 21:  Autism Sensory Friendly Films: ICE AGE @10am
July 23+ NIOST Summer Seminars: Boston, MA
July 25+ Autism Society National Conference: San Diego, CA
July 25+ Romance Writers of America Conference: Anaheim, CA
July 29+ Correction Education Assn Conference: St. Paul, MN
July 30+ National Comprehensive Literacy Institute: Anaheim, CA
July 31+ Mental Health - Learning Disabilities in Children Plano, TX

Education Gap Between Rich & Poor

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say
NY Times: 2.09.2012 by Sabrina Tavernise

WASHINGTON — Education was historically considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects.

It is a well-known fact that children from affluent families tend to do better in school. Yet the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race.

Now, in analyses of long-term data published in recent months, researchers are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly over the past few decades, the gap between rich and poor students has grown substantially during the same period.

“We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s, in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears more determinative of educational success than race,” said Sean F. Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist. Professor Reardon is the author of a study that found that the gap in standardized test scores between affluent and low-income students had grown by about 40 percent since the 1960s, and is now double the testing gap between blacks and whites.

In another study, by researchers from the University of Michigan, the imbalance between rich and poor children in college completion — the single most important predictor of success in the work force — has grown by about 50 percent since the late 1980s.

The changes are tectonic, a result of social and economic processes unfolding over many decades. The data from most of these studies end in 2007 and 2008, before the recession’s full impact was felt. Researchers said that based on experiences during past recessions, the recent downturn was likely to have aggravated the trend.

Both studies were first published last fall in a book of research, “Whither Opportunity?” compiled by the Russell Sage Foundation, a research center for social sciences, and the Spencer Foundation, which focuses on education. Their conclusions, while familiar to a small core of social sciences scholars, are now catching the attention of a broader audience, in part because income inequality has been a central theme this election season. READ MORE !

Why Consumers Struggle to Understand Healthcare - Health Literacy

Why Consumers Struggle to Understand Healthcare
USNews.com: 1.27.2012

Older patients, caregivers, and family members face growing challenges in understanding and navigating the nation's increasingly complex healthcare system. Consumer illiteracy, long applied to financial matters, also has become an enormous issue in healthcare.

Sophisticated drugs and dosages are more complicated. With many seniors being treated for multiple chronic diseases, there can be dangerous interactive effects of taking medications for these differing problems. Dealing with medical professionals is also often challenging. Consumers don't understand medical language and many healthcare professionals seem incapable of speaking in any other tongue.

"Tens of millions of Americans have limited health literacy," according to a recent article in the journal Health Affairs that was authored by half a dozen government health officials, including Donald Berwick, the former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "Despite its importance," the experts said, "health literacy has until recently been relegated to the sidelines of healthcare improvement efforts."

Consumer difficulties in understanding healthcare communications can lead to a worsening cycle of health problems, including:
• The reduced ability to interpret medication labels and health messages
• Failure to select and enroll in the most appropriate health insurance plans
• Failure to understand and use the services provided by their health plans
• Problems taking medicines correctly
• Reduced use of a growing array of free preventive medical services
• More hospitalizations and readmissions
• Greater use of costly emergency room care
• Worse health outcomes and earlier deathsREAD MORE !

The Value of Teachers

The Value of Teachers
NY Times: 01.11.2012 by Nicholas D Kristof

Suppose your child is about to enter the fourth grade and has been assigned to an excellent teacher. Then the teacher decides to quit. What should you do?

The correct answer? Panic!

Well, not exactly. But a landmark new research paper underscores that the difference between a strong teacher and a weak teacher lasts a lifetime. Having a good fourth-grade teacher makes a student 1.25 percent more likely to go to college, the research suggests, and 1.25 percent less likely to get pregnant as a teenager. Each of the students will go on as an adult to earn, on average, $25,000 more over a lifetime — or about $700,000 in gains for an average size class — all attributable to that ace teacher back in the fourth grade. That’s right: A great teacher is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to each year’s students, just in the extra income they will earn.

The study, by economists at Harvard and Columbia universities, finds that if a great teacher is leaving, parents should hold bake sales or pass the hat around in hopes of collectively offering the teacher as much as a $100,000 bonus to stay for an extra year. Sure, that’s implausible — but their children would gain a benefit that far exceeds even that sum.

Conversely, a very poor teacher has the same effect as a pupil missing 40 percent of the school year. We don’t allow that kind of truancy, so it’s not clear why we should put up with such poor teaching. In fact, the study shows that parents should pay a bad teacher $100,000 to retire (assuming the replacement is of average quality) because a weak teacher holds children back so much. READ MORE !

Literacy Tribune Newsletter: January 2012

Literacy Tribune: January 2012
The Adult Learner Network Newsletter

United Literacy, a non-profit organization, provides resources and support to adult literacy learners in the United States. Its aim is to make literacy education accessible and worthwhile for adult learners.

Main Story: Overcome Hurry Sickness in 2012
There is a sickness that you probably have not heard of, but you may have it. It is called Hurry Sickness.

A History Lesson: Benjamin Franklin, America’s First Postmaster General followed his own advice. He wrote things worth reading, and he did things worth writing about.

Organization Spotlight: South Coast Literacy Council
this California program which covers the southern portion of Orange County.

Member Spotlight: Jerome Nick
“Del Norte Reads staff and tutors are awesome,” says Jerome Nick, an adult learner who volunteers at the literacy program’s office, “They help me out a lot in the schooling part.”

Technology Watch: Google Chrome Extensions
Google Chrome is a free web browser. To use its extensions, you first need to have Google Chrome on your computer

The Literacy Tribune is looking for adult learner writers.
Are you an adult learner ?
Do you want to write ?
Do you want to publish your writing ?

You can write about:
Your road to literacy
Your literacy organization
Literacy resources you like
You can write book reviews, poetry, short stories
You can write articles about health, finance, or technology
You can write just about anything !