More than 85 State Leaders Discuss NC’s Pathways to Grade-Level Reading

Tracy - 5On November 13, 2015, more than 85 government agency, legislative, foundation, nonprofit, business and community leaders came together to discuss North Carolina’s Pathways to Grade-Level Reading. The meeting was co-convened by the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, NC Child, The North Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc., and excelleNCe (an initiative of BEST NC).

Their expertise spanned health, family support, early learning environments, K-12, policy and a broad array of disciplines. In short, the brainpower in the room was awe-inspiring!

Together, we:

  • Celebrated North Carolina’s early learning accomplishments.
  • Discussed where we are now, looking at disaggregated data on fourth grade reading proficiency from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
  • Reviewed why reading is a cumulative process that develops from birth and is rooted in early brain development.
  • Discussed the concept of identifying shared measures of success as a means to align policy, funding and strategies and make large-scale progress for young children.
  • Began to define what success looks like based on Lisbeth Schorr’s research, including: – Health and Development – Supported and Supportive Families and Communities – High Quality Early Care and Education – Effective Teaching and Learning in K-3 Classrooms.
  • Identified principles to guide the work of a Data Action Team.
  • Launched an ongoing effort to drive North Carolina’s whole-child, birth-to-eight pathways to grade-level reading success by third grade.

Download a detailed report sharing the day’s discussion and input generated from several group exercises. Materials and presentations from the meeting are available here.