Reading for the Future
The Focus
Getting our community to rally around improving our county’s Early Grade Reading and Kindergarten Readiness outcomes in Brown County.
The BIG GOAL
Every child can read at grade level by third grade.
In Brown County, only 54% of third graders are reading at grade level by third grade.
Reading at grade level is one of the strongest predictors of later success. Studies have found that students who do not read at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than their proficient peers.
Reading for the Future History
Reading for the Future Timeline
In 2021, the Brown County Library* and Green Bay Area Public Schools* approached the Backbone Team of the Achieve Brown County Collective Impact Partnership to request support in rallying our community to take action in response to a five-year decline in 3rd grade reading proficiency.
This Initiative has been underway and working through our Collective Impact Partnership Theory of Change since the Summer of 2021.
* denotes Achieve Brown County Collective Impact Partners.
Our Collective Impact Partnership Backbone Team was approached by the Brown County Library and Green Bay Area Public Schools. A request was made for the Backbone Team to take on facilitation of a community-wide effort to improve 3rd grade reading proficiency rates.
In partnership with the Brown County Library, our Backbone Team launched a Reading Success Summit Planning Team and Sub Teams.
Our Team began to convene, facilitate and support these teams to identify current conditions around a result (to improve 3rd grade reading proficiency rates.
Our Backbone Team continued to convene, facilitate and support the Reading Success Summit Planning Team and Sub Teams as they co-designed the program for the Brown County Reading Success Summit.
Our Team held focus groups and one-on-one interviews with 130 Brown County parents to learn about their experiences raising a young reader. Read the Executive Summary and Full Report from these interactions with parents.
The Brown County Reading Success Summit was held and attended by 200 folks.
During the Summit, we collected community voice during two roundtable conversations. Read about what the community said during these conversations by clicking here (see pages 2-3).
Our Backbone Team launched a Reading for the Future Strategy Team to develop short- and long- term strategies to improve 3rd grade reading proficiency.
The team consisted of folks from the original Reading Success Summit Planning Team as well as new folks who joined the movement after the Summit took place.
Our Backbone Team convened, facilitated and supported bi-weekly meetings of the Reading for the Future Strategy Team.
Achieve Brown County hired a Human Centered Design consultant to facilitate the Reading for the Future Strategy Team through a series of workshops to inform a community-wide strategy to improve 3rd grade reading proficiency.
What is Human Centered Design? Learn more in our blog by clicking here.
Our Backbone Team and Weller Workshops facilitated four Human Centered Design Workshops. Homework between Workshops included community voice collection.
The result of Workshopping was seven actionable, surface level strategies–called Low Fidelity Strategies–to improve 3rd grade reading proficiency.
Our Backbone Team hosted Community Learning Sessions to seek feedback on the seven Low Fidelity Strategies.
An exercise of “community will” took place during sessions to inform which teams would launch first. The result was seven Medium Fidelity Strategies to improve 3rd grade reading proficiency with two identified to launch into action. View all seven strategies here.
Watch the recorded version of the Community Learning Session by clicking here.
Two of the Medium Fidelity Strategies launched into Collaborative Action Teams that are actively meeting now – Every Child is Ready to Read and READy for Life.
Our Backbone Team continues to convene, facilitate and support the Reading for the Future Strategy Team and these other two launched Action Teams, supporting each through our Theory of Change.
Our Collective Impact Partnership is fundraising to secure capital to launch the other five Medium Fidelity Strategies discussed above into Collaborative Action Teams by 2027.
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