Reading Success by 4th Grade

Springfield, Massachusetts is a trend setter in early childhood education!  Cherish Every Child, an initiative of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, is a model for community collaboration to improve the lives of children.  Project Director Sally Fuller shares her terrific summary of recent progress in this guest blog.

Springfield, Massachusetts, the home of Reading Success by 4th Grade, had a banner week this week, with leaders on the national, state and local level reaffirming the importance of the community-wide reading proficiency goal that will ensure that children are successful in school and in life.

On Tuesday, November 8, Ralph Smith, Managing Director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and Senior Vice President of The Annie E. Casey Foundation came to Springfield to speak to business and community leaders about the nation-wide campaign he is spearheading.  While in Springfield, he also helped to announce the launch of the community’s Funder Collaborative for Reading Success, which has raised almost a million dollars to support the work of organizations that will help children achieve the critical educational milestone.   Media coverage of the launch included this piece.

Also on Tuesday, Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Alan Ingram affirmed his support for the community collaboration which clearly aligns with the work of the schools. Read about the spirit and enthusiasm and progress in the community-wide collaboration to support Springfield’s children as they strive to achieve reading proficiency by the end of 3^rd grade in the Superintendent’s Blog.

And on Wednesday, November 9, Governor Deval Patrick, outlining his educational priorities for the Commonwealth, declared that priority #1 is that every child must read well by the 3rd grade. “Three-quarters of children who struggle with reading by third grade will continue to struggle academically, greatly reducing their chances of graduating high school, going to college, or successfully participating in our high skill economy.  I want you to go to work now on developing the best ways to address this early in a child’s academic career, in children entering kindergarten.”

Reading Success by 4th Grade is moving forward in a community-wide collaboration toward a goal of 80% of Springfield’s 3rd graders achieving reading proficiency by 2016.