Community voice is crucial to change community systems.
Published by Achieve Brown County | July 2025
In June 2025, Achieve Brown County backbone staff facilitated a series of three virtual community input sessions to help shape a new Early Literacy Dashboard—an innovative tool designed to track the conditions and supports that help young people build foundational literacy skills. The Early Literacy Dashboard is a project being led by the Reading for the Future Strategy Team, a collaborative action team made up of Achieve Brown County Partners.
These sessions marked the latest milestone in our Reading for the Future initiative; a countywide effort focused on ensuring every child in Brown County is reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Purpose
Right now, there’s no shared way to track how well our community is supporting early literacy development before testing in school districts begins. This dashboard aims to change that. By collecting and aligning data on programs, environments, and supports—rather than test scores alone—we’re building a clearer picture of what young readers need to thrive.
Who Participated
Over 50 individuals participated in the input sessions, representing a diverse cross-section of Brown County, including:
- Early childhood educators
- Nonprofit and community leaders
- Library staff and literacy program coordinators
- Healthcare providers
- School district staff
- Parent and caregiver advocates
Input was also gathered via surveys, email, and follow-up discussions to ensure broad accessibility.
How We Collected Input
To gather feedback, facilitators used a mix of tools:
- Mentimeter: real-time anonymous polling
- Chat & Open Mic: live input during sessions
- Anonymous Microsoft Forms & Post-Session Surveys
- Direct Emails & Outreach
Participants were asked to evaluate proposed indicators, highlight concerns, and suggest missing data points to ensure the dashboard reflects community realities.
What We Asked
Input was focused on three categories of indicators:
- Programs Using Assessment Tools
- Programs Focused on Literacy Access & Experience
- Experiences Focused on Creating Literacy-Rich Third Spaces
Each category included proposed indicators. Participants were asked:
- Is this a valuable indicator to track?
- What are the potential benefits and concerns?
- Do you know local programs that align with this indicator?
What We Heard: Highlights by Indicator
Early Literacy Assessment Programs
Category: Programs Using Assessment Tools
- 78% said yes, 22% maybe to this being a beneficial indicator to track.
- Key benefits: identifying resource gaps, improving services, and alignment.
- Concerns: tool consistency, data accessibility, and equity.
Library-Based Literacy Programs
Category: Programs Focused on Literacy Access & Experience
- 78% yes, 14% maybe, 8% no to this being a beneficial indicator to track.
- Benefits included program awareness, resource tracking, and collaboration.
- Concerns: burden on library staff, and how to measure impact.
At-Home Literacy Programs
Category: Programs Focused on Literacy Access & Experience
- 51% yes, 40% maybe, 9% no to this being a beneficial indicator to track.
- Benefits: parent engagement, resource access, intervention opportunities.
- Concerns: difficulty measuring impact, potential for “blame”, and program visibility.
Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Programs
Category: Programs Focused on Literacy Access & Experience
- 100% yes to this being a beneficial indicator to track.
- Strong consensus around the importance of equity, inclusion, and supporting multilingual families. No major concerns were noted.
Literacy-Rich “Third Spaces”
Category: Experiences Focused on Creating Literacy-Rich Third Spaces
- 59% yes, 38% maybe, 3% no to this being a beneficial indicator to track.
- Benefits: expanded access, community engagement, and funding advocacy.
- Concerns: how to track use in informal settings and relevance of the data.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Across all indicators, five themes emerged:
- Data Collection Must Be Thoughtful
- Simple and practical tools for collecting data are essential, especially for overburdened community organizations.
- There’s a need for both quantitative and narrative insights.
- Community Buy-In Is Critical
- Participants stressed the importance of engaging families, businesses, and cultural partners in the work.
- Strong Emphasis on Birth-to-Five
- Many participants emphasized the importance of including programs and benchmarks for children before kindergarten.
- Collaboration & Cross-Sector Input Encouraged
- Excitement was shared about the value of shared tools and aligned measurement strategies for young people, especially for organizations serving young people ages 0-3.
- There was continued support for cross-sector input throughout the data collection process.
- Inclusion, Context & Representation Matter
- Participants stressed the need to ensure the dashboard doesn’t unintentionally misrepresent or stigmatize families and encourage culturally responsive approaches and consideration of multilingual and underserved populations.
What’s Next
The feedback gathered during these sessions will be reviewed by the Reading for the Future Strategy Team and used to finalize a core set of indicators for the dashboard. This will occur in July and August 2025.
From there, ABC backbone staff will begin the technical phase:
- Data collection
- Data cleaning and processing
- Visualization in Power BI
Version one of the dashboard is aimed to launch by the end of 2025.
View project timeline here >>>
Stay Involved
Want to stay in the loop or help shape this work?
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Together, we’re building a more connected and informed Brown County, one that ensures every young person can thrive.