More than 150 Communities Plan to Apply for All-America City Grade-Level Reading Award

November 07, 2011

by Michael Karpman

Municipal, county and other local leaders in more than 150 communities have expressed commitment to boost children’s reading proficiency as part of their quest to receive the National Civic League’s (NCL) 2012 All-America City Award.

This year, NCL’s signature award will recognize communities that are most effective in mobilizing key stakeholders and residents around collaborative plans to help more children read at grade level by the end of third grade. The competition is part of a national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, which has more than 80 participating foundations and philanthropic donors. Within the next decade, the Campaign seeks to decrease by 50 percent the number and proportion of low-income children who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade in at least a dozen states.

As a major partner in this initiative, NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families (YEF) will assist applicants in developing their plans. Communities that have entered the 2012 All-America City Grade-Level Reading Award competition will focus on three key areas that have a significant impact on reading proficiency:

• The school readiness gap: Too many young children enter kindergarten already behind.

• The school attendance gap: Too many children in grades K-3 miss too many days of school.

• Summer learning loss: Too many children in the early grades lose ground academically over the summer months.

Throughout the application process, the YEF Institute, United Way Worldwide and the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading will help city, county and United Way leaders identify effective strategies to close these gaps. Applications are due in March 2012, with winners to be announced in June.

Third Grade Reading Success Matters

Researchers recognize that reading proficiently by the end of third grade is a critical educational milestone, when most students will have made the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” However, more than four out of five low-income children currently do not read at grade level by this point, posing serious obstacles to their future academic achievement and the economic vitality of the cities in which they live.

An estimated one in six children who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade will not graduate from high school on time, four times lower than the on-time graduation rate for proficient readers, according to an April 2011 report commissioned by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. For students who are both poor and not reading proficiently in third grade, more than one in four do not graduate on time — 13 times lower than the on-time graduation rate for proficient readers from families that are not below the poverty line.

“Those numbers are catastrophic and they bode ill for those children,” said Ralph Smith, senior vice president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. “They bode ill for their families. They bode ill for our communities and they bode ill for the nation as a whole.”

Cities Leading the Way

Municipal officials can play a vital role in the development of grade-level reading plans. For instance, a new tool kit published by Attendance Works shows how cities can reduce excessive school absences.
Among other steps, local officials can pair chronically absent students with mentors, encourage city-funded afterschool programs to identify and work with these students and use data to identify barriers to attendance, such as lack of transportation and untreated health conditions.

“City leaders are uniquely positioned to champion local efforts to boost early reading proficiency, which can not only bridge the achievement gap and reduce dropout rates, but will also strengthen a city’s workforce and advance its broader economic development agenda,” said Clifford M. Johnson, executive director of the YEF Institute. “We are excited to lend our support to cities participating in the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.”

Details:  To learn more about the All-America City Award, visit www.allamericacityaward.com.  To learn more about the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and access the Attendance Works toolkit, visit www.gradelevelreading.net.
 

Communities Expressing Intent to Apply for the 2012 All-America City Grade-Level Reading Award

ALABAMA
Mobile
Montgomery
Tuscaloosa (with nine counties)
 
ARKANSAS
Faulkner and Perry Counties
Little Rock
North Little Rock
 
ARIZONA
Arizona (whole state)
Sahuarita and Green Valley
 
CALIFORNIA
Buena Park
Berkeley
Chula Vista
Fresno
Kern County
Los Angeles
Long Beach
Oakland
Pacoima Community Initiative (in Los Angeles County)
Porterville
Redwood City
Richmond
Salinas
Sacramento
San Francisco
San Jose
San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties
Santa Cruz County
Truckee/Tahoe

COLORADO
Denver
Longmont
Pike’s Peak region

CONNECTICUT
Branford
Bridgeport
Bristol
Chaplin
Danbury
Hartford
Naugatuck
New Britain
New London
Norwalk
Plymouth and Terryville
Torrington
Vernon
Wethersfield
Winchester

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Washington

FLORIDA
Broward County
Columbia County
Delray Beach
Gainesville and Alachua County
Jacksonville
Martin County
Miami-Dade County
Orlando
Palm Beach County
Pinellas
St. Lucie
Tampa (Hillsborough County)
Vero Beach

GEORGIA
Atlanta
Glynn, McIntosh and Camden counties
Savannah
Tift County

IOWA
Council Bluffs
Ames
Des Moines
Dubuque
Marshalltown
Quad cities (Davenport)
Waterloo and Cedar Falls

ILLINOIS
Chicago
Chicago (North Park neighborhood)
Oak Park

INDIANA
Fort Wayne
Indianapolis
Lafayette
Merrillville
Muncie
Richmond

KANSAS
El Dorado
Kansas City
Manhattan
Shawnee County (Topeka)

KENTUCKY
Louisville
Muhlenberg County

LOUISIANA
New Orleans

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston
Brockton
Holyoke
Marlborough
Pittsfield
Springfield
Worcester

MARYLAND
Baltimore

MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor
Detroit
Kent County
Monroe County
Plymouth

MISSOURI
Kansas City
St. Joseph

MINNESOTA
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington and Brooklyn Center

MISSISSIPPI
Hancock, Harrison and Jackson
Petal

NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte
Pitt County (Greenville)
Southern Pines

NEW JERSEY
Camden
Carteret
Newark

NEW MEXICO
Dona Ana County

NEVADA
Las Vegas
Reno (Northern Nevada)

NEW YORK
Buffalo
Madison County
New York (South Bronx neighborhood)
Rochester

OHIO
Cincinnati w/northern Kentucky
Dayton and Montgomery County
Zanesville

OKLAHOMA
Enid
Oklahoma City
Tulsa

OREGON
Eugene
Portland (Multnomah County)
Wallowa County

PENNSYLVANIA
Allegheny County
Erie County
Greater Lehigh Valley
Philadelphia
York County

PUERTO RICO
San Juan

RHODE ISLAND
Providence

SOUTH CAROLINA
Anderson
Midlands Region

TEXAS
Arlington and Mansfield
Austin
Bay City (Columbia, Matagorda, Wharton counties)
Brownsville and Laredo
Corpus Christi
Houston
Montgomery County
San Antonio
Waco

UTAH
Ogden
Salt Lake City

VIRGINIA
Alexandria
Fairfax County
Norfolk
Petersburg
Richmond
Roanoke

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
St. Thomas
St. Croix

WASHINGTON
Anacortes
Bellevue
Seattle and South King County cities of Auburn, Burien, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, and Tukwila

WISCONSIN
Eau Claire
Milwaukee