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As we reflect on the 2024 Grade-Level Reading Week theme “Focus on The Gaps,” we are encouraged to find ways to reduce the learning and opportunity disparities affecting children from early childhood. NCECF works with communities across the state to close these gaps and support teachers and families in achieving reading success.
Each year, Grade-Level Reading Week is hosted by The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR). The national organization’s mission is to disrupt the generational cycle of poverty by improving the prospects for early school success. This mission is advanced by focusing on two critical inflection points in a child’s development:
- Grade-level reading proficiency by the end of third grade
- On-track physical and mental development by the end of kindergarten
Since 2015, NCECF has led the NC Campaign for Grade-Level Reading communities by convening a shared learning network. This community collaborates to develop tools that promote literacy and engage partners to amplify CGLR’s work. At the NC CGLR Annual Meeting in Raleigh this July, communities from Gaston to Edgecombe counties explored strategies to increase early childhood literacy, build upon our collective strengths, and discuss opportunities to grow our collaborative efforts.
Expert speakers, including Munro Richardson, the Executive Director of Read Charlotte, and Rachel Stine, the Senior Director of New Site Development for Book Harvest, headlined the meeting.
Munro Richardson shared Read Charlotte’s work to include listening comprehension as part of its efforts to improve children’s reading skills. By increasing listening comprehension – the ability to understand spoken language, including conversations, stories, and information from sources like TV, radio, audiobooks, and teachers’ explanations – children can grasp and retain information more readily. Richardson shared research that shows that improving reading comprehension requires simultaneous focus on both word-reading and listening comprehension skills. They are leading indicators of literacy outcomes.
Read about Read Charlotte’s initiatives to infuse listening comprehension into all their work. The Read Together initiative is simple in its approach but powerful in its results. It encourages families and teachers to read together with children as a dynamic approach to help improve language and build literacy skills for academic success.
Rachel Stine shared Book Harvest’s Early Literacy System of Care to support children’s literacy development. The System of Care is a unique continuum, delivering four evidence-informed, parent-powered programs at the population level. This ensures that literacy is nurtured and optimized for every child, from birth and over the first decade of life.
This system is the foundation for Book Harvest’s goal of a world where all children and families thrive with the resources they need for literacy.
After learning from the dynamic speakers, the community was inspired to consider how they might infuse these learning tools into their daily work. We hope every community is one step closer to Book Harvest’s aspirational vision—literacy and justice for all.