The NC Early Childhood Foundation is pleased to release a new case study sharing the three-year Pathways to Grade-Level Reading initiative’s process, the products that the stakeholders co-created, and the impacts of the initiative to date. Bridging Sectors to Co-Create NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading is a resource for local partners and other states who are interested in replicating the Pathways process to convene cross-sector stakeholders around the collaborative goal of improving third-grade reading proficiency.
North Carolina has long been recognized for its commitment to ensuring that our state’s young children have the opportunity to succeed. In November of 2015, North Carolina once more took bold action on behalf of young children when more than 85 representatives from government agencies, nonprofits, the private sector, foundations, research institutions and members of the North Carolina General Assembly came together to launch Pathways to Grade-Level Reading. Since that first meeting, a growing partnership of hundreds of diverse leaders from across the state has worked across sectors, geography and the political aisle with the goal of building a comprehensive early childhood system for North Carolina and improving outcomes for young children.
This diverse group has recommended a set of research-based, whole-child, birth-through-eight measures—the Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Measures of Success—to help North Carolina determine if our state’s young children are on the path to literacy. Pathways partners also have created and are endorsing the Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Action Framework, which proposes actions in the areas identified as priorities—children’s social-emotional health, high quality early care and education and regular school attendance.
Pathways is creating a ripple effect that will lead to better outcomes for all North Carolina children. By creating shared agreement around a set of measures and actions to drive early childhood outcomes, NCECF, Pathways partners and other stakeholders have helped ensure that early childhood is in the spotlight in NC. The Pathways work continues to drive content for other early childhood initiatives and planning processes across the state. Though the full impact of the initiative will be measured over time, the Pathways ripple is already visible at the legislative, community and Pathways partner levels.
Pathways is an initiative of the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation (NCECF) in collaboration with NC Child, The North Carolina Partnership for Children and BEST NC.