ARTICLE
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR) announced today that it will recognize Get Delaware Reading Wilmington (GDRW) with Pacesetter Honors for its work in 2018. “Recognizing Pacesetters is our way of applauding and thanking the civic leaders, organizations and agencies that have joined forces to build brighter futures for children in their communities,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of CGLR. “We are learning with them and from them what it takes to move the needle and close the gap. Mobilized communities — like these Pacesetters — are essential to achieving early school success.” Each year, CGLR uses its Pacesetter Honors to highlight communities that report making measurable progress on key indicators of early school success. These communities serve as proof points and represent the “leading edge” of innovation, impact and improvement within the GLR Network, currently comprised of more than 300 GLR communities, representing 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Alberta, Canada. “Get Delaware Reading Wilmington is a two-generational collaborative effort between schools, our dedicated partners, families and the community as a whole,” said Michelle Taylor, President and CEO of United Way of Delaware. “When children are provided the resources necessary to strengthen their reading skills, we can ensure that they have a strong foundation educationally to build upon for the duration of their lives. We will continue to invigorate young students in Wilmington early enough in their lives to put them on the path to reading proficiency by the end of third grade. We are grateful and honored to be recognized by CGLR for this critical work.” Core partners of Get Delaware Reading Wilmington worked together this year to realize the goal of providing literacy intervention for 4-year-olds in the city of Wilmington. GDRW’s unique approach integrates Nemours BrightStart! Curriculum, an evidence-based reading intervention with best practices to reach Wilmington children with a direct focus on wrapping support around their families. The success of the program will prove to close the gap downstream so our community will begin to see upstream children who are prepared when entering kindergarten and reading on grade-level by the end of third grade. Get Delaware Reading is led by United Way of Delaware in partnership with Delaware Parents As Teachers; Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children; Nemours’ Bright Start!; Delaware Department of Education; Delaware Department of Health and Social Services; Christina, Red Clay, and Brandywine School Districts; and 10 early learning programs dedicated to early care and education with significant support from the following funders: Wells Fargo, Jessie Ball duPont, Seeds of Greatness, and Highmark Delaware. Reading proficiency by the end of third grade is a critical milestone toward high school graduation and career success because it marks the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” National tests show that two-thirds of U.S. fourth-graders (four-fifths of whom are from low-income families) are not reading proficiently. Students who have not mastered reading by that time are more likely to drop out of high school and struggle throughout their lives.
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (CGLR) announced today that it will recognize Get Delaware Reading Wilmington (GDRW) with Pacesetter Honors for its work in 2018.
“Recognizing Pacesetters is our way of applauding and thanking the civic leaders, organizations and agencies that have joined forces to build brighter futures for children in their communities,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of CGLR. “We are learning with them and from them what it takes to move the needle and close the gap. Mobilized communities — like these Pacesetters — are essential to achieving early school success.”
Each year, CGLR uses its Pacesetter Honors to highlight communities that report making measurable progress on key indicators of early school success. These communities serve as proof points and represent the “leading edge” of innovation, impact and improvement within the GLR Network, currently comprised of more than 300 GLR communities, representing 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Alberta, Canada.
“Get Delaware Reading Wilmington is a two-generational collaborative effort between schools, our dedicated partners, families and the community as a whole,” said Michelle Taylor, President and CEO of United Way of Delaware. “When children are provided the resources necessary to strengthen their reading skills, we can ensure that they have a strong foundation educationally to build upon for the duration of their lives. We will continue to invigorate young students in Wilmington early enough in their lives to put them on the path to reading proficiency by the end of third grade. We are grateful and honored to be recognized by CGLR for this critical work.”
Core partners of Get Delaware Reading Wilmington worked together this year to realize the goal of providing literacy intervention for 4-year-olds in the city of Wilmington. GDRW’s unique approach integrates Nemours BrightStart! Curriculum, an evidence-based reading intervention with best practices to reach Wilmington children with a direct focus on wrapping support around their families. The success of the program will prove to close the gap downstream so our community will begin to see upstream children who are prepared when entering kindergarten and reading on grade-level by the end of third grade.
Get Delaware Reading is led by United Way of Delaware in partnership with Delaware Parents As Teachers; Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children; Nemours’ Bright Start!; Delaware Department of Education; Delaware Department of Health and Social Services; Christina, Red Clay, and Brandywine School Districts; and 10 early learning programs dedicated to early care and education with significant support from the following funders: Wells Fargo, Jessie Ball duPont, Seeds of Greatness, and Highmark Delaware.
Reading proficiency by the end of third grade is a critical milestone toward high school graduation and career success because it marks the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” National tests show that two-thirds of U.S. fourth-graders (four-fifths of whom are from low-income families) are not reading proficiently. Students who have not mastered reading by that time are more likely to drop out of high school and struggle throughout their lives.