City of Tempe issued the following announcement on Aug. 17
Read On Tempe, a community collaborative, has been recognized with Pacesetter Honors for its work promoting school readiness and grade-level reading proficiency by the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.
Read On Tempe plays a vital role in bringing together city and community partners to coordinate and support early literacy. These efforts continue to be recognized by state and national leaders.
“Ensuring that our community’s children have the supports they need to be successful readers is an essential component of Tempe’s vision that 65% of Tempe residents have a postsecondary degree or credential by the year 2030,” said Human Services Director Naomi Farrell.
Read On Tempe encompasses all of the City of Tempe’s early literacy initiatives. The program is being honored for its work in 2019 that focused on helping achieve the city’s goal of ensuring that 72% of third graders read proficiently by 2030.
The Tempe Acceleration Zone team embarked on a plan to target early literacy efforts for the 395 families and their 758 children under age six in the highest poverty region of the city. Kindergarten entry data showed that only 20% of children entering school were prepared in the domain of language and literacy. The goal was to saturate the community with literacy opportunities and family support.
Those efforts included distributing approximately 1,000 books to 200 children, holding six literacy programs at the Tempe Public Library, and providing nearly 60 Triple P parenting classes to more than 100 adults. This combination provided families with the critical tools needed to boost literacy development.
This layering of supports and services is available through strong partnerships between the city’s Human Services and Community Services departments, Tempe Elementary School District and Thrive to Five Family Resource Center, as well as funding from the Tempe Diablos.
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a collaborative effort by funders, nonprofit partners, business leaders, government agencies, states and communities to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career and active citizenship.
For more information: tempe.gov/Education.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up