Campaign for Grade-Level Reading

In Their Own Words

The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR) seeks to disrupt generational poverty by mobilizing communities to find solutions for one of the major obstacles in the pathway out of poverty — failure to read proficiently by the end of third grade. We inspire and motivate communities to do three things: 1. Put a stake in the ground around a third-grade reading goal that is ambitious, achievable and actionable. 2. Develop a plan to solve the major drivers of the third-grade reading proficiency gap — too few young children ready for school; too many students missing too many days of school; and too many children experiencing summer learning loss. 3. Mobilize the critical constituencies needed to implement that plan, most notably data holders, providers of services and supports to families and young children, and — most importantly — parents and caregivers. We support the work in those communities by serving as a hub for network learning and peer coaching, a broker for needed information and tools, an accelerator of progress by lifting up Bright Spots and recognizing Pacesetters, and a distribution channel for innovative proven and promising models, programs, ideas and messages. To date our efforts have helped to spark a “grassroots-to-governors” movement raising early school success, grade-level reading and one of its major predictors — chronic absence — as important policy priorities. More than 5,200 organizations comprise “big tent” sponsoring coalitions across 300+ GLR communities in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and two Canadian provinces. Each of these places with plans have goals, agendas and strategies to address attendance, school readiness and/or summer learning, leading to grade-level reading. Most important, among our 5,200 organizations are 700 local funders, many of whom have joined funder coalitions to leverage their investments and influence. These earned assets (a big tent movement, a diverse set of places with plans and local funder coalitions) together with the nearly 100 parent-facing organizations we can count as partners, allies and champions and our reach into communities representing more than 28 million children 0–9 years old constitute the CGLR competitive advantage.