Buffalo Joins Network of 150+ Cities Across the Country
Pledging to Make Early Reading an Urgent Priority

National Award Tied to Best Plans for Improving Third Grade Literacy

 
Read to Succeed Buffalo has convened a coalition of civic leaders, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and businesses to target early literacy as an urgent priority for our community, recognizing that children who don't learn to read well by the end of third grade are more likely to struggle academically and less likely to finish high school. 

Buffalo joins more than 150 other cities, counties, and towns in at least 36 states to address what is clearly a national crisis: A full two thirds of U.S. students fail to become proficient readers in the early grades, and schools cannot fix this problem without community support.

Each of these communities is competing to win the All America Cities Grade Level Reading Award sponsored by the National Civic League in partnership with United Way World Wide and 80 foundations from across the country.

RTSB has convened three subcommittees to develop strategies to tackle three underlying issues identified by the Campaign for Grade Level Reading as consistently keeping children from learning to read well:

• Kindergarten readiness: Chaired by Susan Block, Director of the Child Care Resource Network with Dr. Kathleen Fennie, Supervisor of Elementary Teaching and Learning at the Buffalo Public Schools and Anne Ryan, executive director of RTSB.

• Attendance: Chaired by Jane Ogilvie, director of school support services for Erie 1 BOCES and John Crabbe, Director of Attendance for the Buffalo Public Schools.
  

• Out of school learning loss: Chaired by Diane Rowe, Chief Professional Officer of Boys & Girls Clubs of Buffalo and Jill Ann Robbins-Jabine, Director of Education Investments & Initiatives for the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County.

To view the recent presentation of Buffalo's plan click here

Buffalo signaled its intent to apply for the 2012 All-America City Awards by submitting a letter of intent indicating our interest in developing a comprehensive, realistic, and sustainable plan to deal with these three challenges.  Currently we are encouraging community input on the three key issues and are outlining goals, strategies and methods to measure success. 

RTSB will host a forum on February 9 at 9 am at WNED-TV studios to preview plans to the overall community and provide our final plan to the All America City Award Committee in March.

To get involved, please contact Anne Ryan, Executive Director, at 843-8895 or RyanA@RTSB.org.