Grade Level reading

Getting Help

Who to ask for help:

• Questions about the Campaign, the 3 Community Solution areas and general requests: Contact Ron Fairchild at rfairchild@gradelevelreading.net or 443-986-1275.
• Questions about the application process: Contact the National Civic League, email Gloria Rubio-Cortes at GloriaRC@ncl.org
• Questions about municipal leadership: Contact the National League of Cities, email Heidi Goldberg at Goldberg@nlc.org or Tonja Rucker at Rucker@nlc.org
• Questions about the United Way involvement: Contact the United Way Worldwide, email Rachel Perry at Rachel.Perry@uww.unitedway.org

If you’re working in a participating community and would like to join our private online NING site with resources and more information about the Campaign, email pjordan@gradelevelreading.net with your name and the name of your community. If you’ve already signed up, log in at  http://aacreading.ning.com/

All-American City Application Review Process

For help understanding the peer review process for the 2012 All-American City Award, read:

• Guidelines for Peer Reviewers
• Questions & Answers
• Scoring Rubric

Here is the Peer Reviewer Training Webinar recording. You can:

• Watch online or
• Download and view it on your computer.
• View the Slide Deck

Additionally, if you are a peer reviewer involved in a Community Solutions Action Plan, you may ask to join the password-protected site with additional resources and information. Email pjordan@gradelevelreading.net with your name and the name of your community. If you’ve already signed up, log in at http://aacreading.ning.com/

Chronic Absence

For help developing the school attendance part of your plan, contact:

• Attendance Works–The national and state level initative aimed at improving policy and practice to reduce chronic absence has a help desk and a toolkit for cities. Director Hedy Chang, a national expert on early chronic absence, will present on the Campaign’s Dec. 14 webinar. She will also offer a series of smaller webinars for communities that need more intensive assistance.Chang has developed a Toolkit for City Leaders. Additional questions can be submitted to the Attendance Works help desk.

For other assistance, try:

• Children’s Aid Society/National Center for Community Schools
  The center provides technical assistance to communities nationally and internationally on how to bring community resources to bear to improve schools.

School Readiness

For help developing the school readiness component of your community action plan, try these organizations

• Birth to Five Policy Alliance–The organization works to identify and build champions for early childhool policy, provides state-based advocacy, and disseminates research and policy analysis.
• Build Initiative–This nonprofit helps states construct integrated, coordinated systems of programs, policies and services for young children and their families.
• Center for Public Education–This offshoot of the National School Boards Association has done considerable work developing pre-K programs and aligning them with the elementary grades.
• Child Trends–This nonprofit, nonpartisan research center does extensive research and analysis on early childhood development and school readiness.
• Coalition for Community Schools–This coalition advocates for community schools and for strategies that use local agencies and nonprofits to supplement school efforts.
• First Five Years Fund–This nonprofit provides knowledge, data and advocacy, helping federal policymakers make investments in the first five years of a child’s life.
• Ounce of Prevention Fund–This national organization develops early childhood programs, trains providers, and advocates for policies to ensure low-income children have quality early childhood experiences.
• Pre-K Now–This campaign by the Pew Center for the States collaborates with advocates and policymakers to push for high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 3 and 4 year olds.
• Zero to Three–This national, nonprofit organization informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.

Summer Learning

For help developing the summer learning component of your community plan, contact:

• National Summer Learning Association–The national organization that promotes enriching summer learning programs can provide resources to help launch programs.
• BELL Summer–Building Educated Leaders for Life Summer Learning Program is an enrichment program that primarily focuses on summer learning loss among children of color from low-income backgrounds.
• Horizons National–This national network uses partnerships with private school and college campuses to provide summer programs for low-income children at no cost to the school district or city.
• Summer Advantage USA–The summer program provides thousands of elementary and middle school students with research-based learning focused on academic gains.