Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google Plus Email North Carolina Pathways to Grade-Level Reading About this Initiative Year Started: 2015 Social issue: Education and Youth Initiative stage: Implementing and Sustaining Impact Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America (the), Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV) Initiative Purpose and Goals: The Pathways to Grade-Level Reading (Pathways) initiative is all about possibility. What would be possible if… We adopted shared, whole child, birth-to-age-eight measures that put children on a pathway to grade-level reading? We coordinated strategies to support children’s optimal development beginning at birth? We aligned policies and practices that were rooted in how children develop? This collaborative of diverse leaders is building on North Carolina’s history of innovation and success to reach for a bold vision: All North Carolina children, regardless of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, are reading on grade-level by the end of third grade, and all children with disabilities achieve expressive and receptive communication skills commensurate with their developmental ages, so that they have the greatest opportunity for life success. Initiative website: https://buildthefoundation.org/initiative/pathways-to-grade-level-reading/ Get Connected: Facebook Twitter Collective Impact Elements in Place Common Agenda Continuous Communication Shared Measurement Backbone Support Backbone Support Organizations serving in the Backbone Role Pathways is an initiative of the NC Early Childhood Foundation in collaboration with NC Child, The North Carolina Partnership for Children (Smart Start), and BEST NC. Measures of Success Reading well in the early grades predicts a child’s academic and career success. Research shows that improving third grade reading takes a coordinated birth-through-age-eight approach with aligned policies and practices that focuses on: Children’s Health and Development, Beginning at Birth Supported and Supportive Families and Communities High-Quality Birth-through-Age-Eight Learning Environments, with Regular Attendance In Phase I of Pathways, a Data Action Team identified shared birth-through-age-eight, whole child measures that research has demonstrated can move the needle on third grade reading proficiency to create the Measures of Success Framework. Initiative Activities and Milestones Activities Pathways has just reached the implementation phase of the work. We have shared Measures of Success and a shared Action Framework. Milestones Shared measures have been developed, we have prioritized where to focus first, and we have created a shared Action Framework. We have engaged family representatives in all phases of the work and created a feedback loop to ensure local/community input into the state-level planning process. We have co-created a shared racial equity lens that has informed the strategy development. More than 200 partner organizations and hundreds of individuals across the state have contributed to the process so far. Partner organizations are endorsing the Action Framework. Community Engagement and Advancing Equity Community Engagement Activities Community Conversations. Fourteen communities across the state held meetings with local providers to provide input into the Pathways process. In the first round of meetings, providers shared what supports them and what gets in the way of their work to advance the success of children and families. In the second round of meetings, the communities offered input into which strategies to prioritize. Local community organizations are represented in the statewide Pathways Partners meetings and in each Action Team. Pathways also released Not About Me, Without Me, synthesizing the voices of more than 2,000 North Carolina parents and identifying themes around what helps and hinders them as they support their young children’s healthy development. This information informed strategy development as well. Activities to Advance Equity Pathways uses an equity lens, with an explicit, but not exclusive, focus on racial equity. Pathways has disaggregated data, created an inclusive table for discussion and decision-making, held racial equity trainings for Design Team members, crafted a racial equity statement and worked to ensure that the final Action Framework has a clear racial equity lens. The Action Framework proposes actions that intentionally aim to break down barriers to opportunity for children and families of color – barriers created by current and historic laws, policies and practices. Just a few examples of actions from the Framework include: Set Equity Goals. Make equity an agency-wide priority for state and local agencies by setting bold and doable equity-related goals within and across divisions that are tied to broader state and local goals and strategies. Recruit and Retain Educators and School Leaders of Color. Develop a state plan to recruit and retain birth-through-age-eight educators and school leaders of color using a variety of strategies, including financial incentives, recruitment legislation, recruitment centers, pre-college programs, and alternative certification programs targeting substitute teachers and mid-career paraprofessionals. Adopt Research-Based Standards for Culturally-Relevant Teaching. Adopt research-based standards that connect to diverse cultures (are culturally relevant) to help birth-through-age-eight educators know what skills they need to effectively teach students of color, honor the customs, norms and traditions of all students, and include the diverse views and histories of communities of color within the curriculum Pathways also highlights inequities based on income, geography, language of origin, ability and age. Initiative Partners and Governance Contributing organizations Driving the Pathways initiative is the foundational belief that together we can realize greater outcomes for young children than any of us can produce on our own. Pathways Partners work across disciplines, sectors, systems, and the political aisle. There are more than 200 pathways partner organizations, including funders, nonprofits, state and local public sector organizations, private sector organizations, and family representatives. Sectors Engaged Nonprofit Philanthropic Funders Public Sector Business Sector Broader Community/People with Lived Experience Initiative governance Pathways Partners come together once a year to approve each phase of the work and launch the next phase. Smaller Action Teams branch off to do the more detailed work. The Accelerator team of four organizations provides the strategic leadership. The first three phases of the work have included: A Data Action Team, which identified shared birth-through-age-eight, whole child measures that research has demonstrated can move the needle on third grade reading proficiency to create the Measures of Success Framework. Learning Teams, which looked at the NC data around those measures and, based on overall need and equity considerations, recommended a set of measures to move to action on first. Design Teams, which co-created the Pathways Action Framework to help North Carolina align around policy, practice and capacity-building strategies that will shift the prioritized measures of success, particularly for children of color. Resources NC Leaders Use Pathways Frameworks as Foundation of State Efforts Pathways 101: Webinar (10 minutes) What Would Be Possible If? The Pathways Journey to Date Discussions
