Early Learning Teaching Strategies Enhanced by Arizona-Florida Learning Exchange
Helios Education Foundation is focused on closing education achievement gaps for Latino students in Arizona and Black students in Florida. Closing those gaps starts with early learning.
Children who meet kindergarten readiness benchmarks are more likely to graduate from high school, engage in postsecondary education, and complete a college degree. Conversely, those who do not meet readiness benchmarks often struggle for academic gains. Too often minority students struggle the most. By investing in early learning initiatives and improving early learning education in both states, Helios and our partners seek to increase the number of students who read at grade level by the end of third grade, a critical academic benchmark.
A recent investment in Read on Arizona, a long-standing collective impact initiative and early learning partner, fostered a learning exchange with the Florida Grade Level Reading Campaign. The first of four learning exchange gatherings between Read on Arizona and the Florida Grade Level Reading Campaign outlined a framework for successful, scalable literacy strategies. "Partners in Read On Arizona have identified and are implementing the comprehensive set of strategies required to drive school readiness and reading proficiency," said Arizona Literacy Director Terri Clark, who leads Read On Arizona. "These strategies work. They’re working in states like Arizona and Florida, but there's much more to do to sustain and bring them to scale. The crucial investment in our state learning exchange from Helios Education Foundation is helping accelerate progress toward our shared goals."
Read on Arizona’s policy efforts benefited from a similar discourse between Arizona and Mississippi. The shared conversations guided legislative recommendations that ultimately resulted in additional funding for early literacy in Arizona. The Arizona-Florida learning exchange also seeks to identify challenges and solutions related to early literacy policy.
The Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign, an initiative of the Florida Alliance of Children’s Councils and Trusts, is a collaborative effort by nonprofit partners, business leaders, foundations, government agencies, universities, and communities across the state to ensure that Florida’s children are reading on grade level by the end of third grade. “As a statewide network, FGLRC supports the efforts of 24 local campaigns serving 37 counties of Florida by providing early literacy research, best practices, technical assistance and resources for Florida’s youngest learners,” said Florida Grade-Level Reading Campaign Director Jenn Faber. “This first learning exchange has been both enlightening and informative. We are excited about the progress we’ve made and will make going forward.”
“The innovative, two-state collaboration is in its infancy, yet already poised to serve Arizona and Florida’s students effectively. Increasing the number of minority students who read at grade level by the end of third grade will increase the number who become college ready and complete a college degree.” said Paul J. Luna, President and CEO, Helios Education Foundation.