Wednesday, July 24

• 12:30–2 p.m. ET, Building Brighter Futures: National Funders Share Insights on Place-Based Strategies

Wednesday, July 24

• 3–4:30 p.m. ET, The Influence of Social-Emotional Learning: Closing Literacy Gaps in the Classroom

Thursday, July 25

• 12:30–2 p.m. ET, Ready on Day One: Strategies and Tools to Support CGLR Community Coalitions With School Success

Thursday, July 25

• 3–4:30 p.m. ET, AI’s Gap-Closing Potential: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges

Monday, July 22, 2024

12:30–2 PM ET
Ready, Set, Go: Two-Generation Approaches for Kindergarten Success

The United Way Worldwide and Ascend at the Aspen Institute have long partnered with each other and with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading to disrupt the cycle of poverty and create more hopeful futures for children with a focus on improving early learning. Two-generation (2Gen) approaches — which support children as well as their parents and caregivers — help whole families build the necessary foundations for success in kindergarten and beyond. An exploration of 2Gen approaches can help to identify what’s working to engage parents in this critical role as their child’s first and most important teacher. This is especially important with research findings documenting that the entire third-grade reading gap is evident by the end of kindergarten, and we know that double-digit gaps in reading proficiency unfortunately still persist. Join this GLR Week session, which is the first in a series of three CGLR Learning and Engagement Opportunities, to learn from our key partners at the United Way Worldwide and Ascend at the Aspen Institute. They will share information about their many promising 2Gen strategies that are helping to ensure young children are ready for kindergarten while also increasing intergenerational prosperity and fostering well-being among parents and their children.

Panelists:

• Ayeola Fortune, Vice President, Impact Team, United Way Worldwide
• Roweena Naidoo, Vice President, Policy and Community Initiatives, Mile High United Way, Colorado
• Pam Romero, Vice President, Community Schools United, United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley, Georgia
• Jennifer St. John, Senior Vice President, Impact, United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley, Georgia
• Vivian Tseng, Ph.D., President and CEO, Foundation for Child Development
• Marjorie Sims, Managing Director, Ascend at the Aspen Institute, Moderator

3–4:30 PM ET
Supporting Student Attendance in a Time of Changing Norms

Research, experience and common sense support the currently shared assumptions that school attendance is related to school success. Consequently, chronic absence has been identified as a major contributor to academic gaps. As chronic absenteeism has spiked in recent years, student progress has fallen and post-pandemic recovery has remained sluggish despite significant investment and coordinated efforts. Since the pandemic, norms around work and learning have shifted dramatically with rising interest in four-day school weeks, hybrid learning, micro-schools and other innovations — approaches that are shaking up the idea of showing up at school every day. At the same time, a growing number of parents are choosing homeschooling and leveraging the expansion of Education Savings Account policies to join a “parent choice” movement that is shifting away from traditional public schools. Amid all those changes, we still know that school attendance remains an essential part of students’ learning and development. For many students who are lower income, school is also a lifeline of access to meaningful relationships, basic supports such as food and the internet, and more, exposing the long-understated truth that school is as much a place for social connection and supports as it is for learning and development. Against this backdrop, this session will investigate two essential questions: How can and must the understanding of attendance adapt to a more varied learning environment? And how do we ensure that all students — especially those in economically challenged, fragile and otherwise marginalized families — experience the support, encouragement and ability to attend school every day and engage in learning, however that may look. Join us for this thought-provoking and timely conversation that will help you start thinking about and addressing attendance in new ways.

Panelists:

• Hedy Chang, Executive Director, Attendance Works
• Denise Forte, President & CEO, The Education Trust
• Johann Liljengren, Director, Dropout Prevention and Student Re-engagement, Colorado Department of Education
• Nat Malkus, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
• Sonja Brookins Santelises, Ed.D., CEO, Baltimore City Public Schools
• John Gomperts, Executive Fellow, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Moderator

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

12:30–2 PM ET
A Virtual Gratitude Reception: CGLR Salutes Children’s Museums

In this year’s GLR Week 2024: Focus on the Gaps!, the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is excited to acknowledge and underscore the roles and contributions of our children’s museum partners. These multifaceted, uniquely engaging, innovative and playful community institutions enable children to take charge of their own learning as they engage with the interactive exhibits and hands-on play provided. Through immersive learning, children’s museums support a child’s curiosity and critical thinking skills. They can help children connect to the world around them and offer unique environments for quality family time. This session will unpack how these critical community resources work to “focus on the gaps.” By using playful learning concepts to provide important out-of-school opportunities for children and their families to grow and learn together, children’s museums contribute to an ecosystem of welcoming, accessible and affordable parent-centered support. 

Panelists: 

• Denise Rosario Adusei, Executive Director, Bronx Children’s Museum, New York
• Carole Charnow, President and CEO, Boston Children’s Museum, Massachusetts   
• Tanya S. Durand, Chief Executive Officer, Greentrike, Tacoma, Washington
• Laura Huerta Migus, Deputy Director for Museum Services, Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Washington, D.C.
• Patricia D. Wellenbach, President and CEO, Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Arthur G. Affleck, III, M.Ed., JD, Executive Director, Association of Children’s Museums, Moderator

3–4:30 PM ET
The Promise and Potential of Play-Based Learning

This year, CGLR has been focused on how much kindergarten matters as a crucial time to identify and close gaps and ensure that students from low-income and marginalized families have an equal chance to make the most of this year as a sturdy bridge toward early school success. In fact, research demonstrates that the entire third-grade reading gap is evident by the end of kindergarten and students who are behind after this foundational year fall even more behind in first grade. This means that innovative teaching and learning strategies are needed to ensure young learners are prepared and progressing on target both to and through the all-important kindergarten year. Luckily, research also has shown that play-based learning is an effective teaching and learning strategy that, according to the Early Learning Academies, leads young learners to “be interested in what they are learning, more likely to retain knowledge, and to apply new knowledge to different activities.” The Academies go on to say that: “By allowing children to engage with letters, sounds, words, and books through play, it increases their ability to form language and strengthens their early literacy skills.” And now, with the on-set of artificial intelligence, combined with gaming and other EdTech, there are even more resources to support this strategy both in the classroom and outside of school. In this GLR Week plenary, we have the chance to learn from the leading experts on play-based learning about the power and promise of play and what it takes to make this strategy work to close the kindergarten gap for students from economically challenged families and English language learners by increasing literacy development and overall learning. 

Panelists:

• Andres Sebastian Bustamante, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Human Development in Context, School of Education, University of California, Irvine
• Kathy Baer, Kindergarten Teacher, West Chester Area School District, Pennsylvania
• Kate Dole, Early Childhood Special Education Specialist, Minnesota Department of Education;
• Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Temple University and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Abby Jenkins, Senior Director of Content, PBS KIDS
• Ryan Lee-James, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer, Atlanta Speech School and Director, Rollins Center for Language and Literacy and its Cox Campus
• William R. Hite, Jr. Ed.D, President and CEO, Knowledge Works, Moderator

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

12:30-2 PM ET
Building Brighter Futures: National Funders Share Insights on Place-Based Strategies

Several of the national funders that are committed to advancing early school success and more hopeful futures for children in economically challenged families and communities nationwide are also functioning as place-based funders, working to advance analogous efforts in their respective hometowns and/or other focus communities. This session will engage a panel of national funders in conversation about how they are working to close early learning gaps in their “hometowns” and how those place-based efforts inform and are informed by their national investments.

Panelists:

• Deirdre Johnson Burel, Ed.D., Senior Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• Jonathan Hui, Senior Program Officer, The Kresge Foundation
• Thomas Parker, Executive in Residence/Program Officer, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
• Rubye Sullivan, Ph.D., Senior Associate-Atlanta Civic Site, Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Debra M. Jacobs, President and CEO, The Patterson Foundation, Moderator

3–4:30 PM ET
The Influence of Social-Emotional Learning: Closing Literacy Gaps in the Classroom

Nurturing the development of emotional intelligence and social skills has been widely embraced as an important and even essential aspect of the “whole child” approach to education. A growing body of research from human development, the learning sciences and neurosciences affirms the importance of ensuring learning environments and instruction promote social-emotional and cognitive development to achieve literacy goals. This session will spotlight the how the integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) principles into science-based literacy instruction can accelerate academic growth. Attendees will glean insights from research experts on the data-driven influence of SEL and will hear from policy and practice experts who are aiming to use SEL as a strategy to close educational opportunity gaps in classrooms across the country. This conversation will kick-off a CGLR mini-series of webinars that will explore diverse perspectives on SEL and its implications for state education policies.

Panelists:

• Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., Director, Education Collaboratory, Yale University
• Carol D. Lee, Ph.D., Professor, Learning Sciences, Northwestern University
• Lakeisha Steele, Vice President of Policy, Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
• Natalie Walrond, Senior Managing Director, WestEd

Thursday, July 25, 2024

12:30–2 PM ET
Ready on Day One: Strategies and Tools to Support CGLR Community Coalitions With School Success

The work happening in our CGLR communities to provide strategies, tools and collaborative action is critical to closing the gaps and barriers to equitable learning and successful school entry. In our GLR Week session for community coalitions, we will host robust conversations with field experts and CGLR Community and State Leads, targeting this constituency group and network funders and coalition partners. Three breakout rooms will be used to cover the strategies of 1) High-dosage tutoring, 2) School attendance, and 3) School-year resources, all in preparation for children to be ready on Day One. Conversation participants will be able to gain proven tools to apply in their own community.

High-dosage Tutoring:

• Shelly Brooks, United Way of Northeast Mississippi
• Renada Chandler,Executive Director, Smart Kids Inc. 
• Lisa Greening, Executive Director, Turn the Page St. Louis
• Alissa Hobart, Director, MS Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction 
• Caroline Mitchell, Executive Director, Community Development, Gateway Region YMCA 
• Jenny Atkinson, Senior Consultant, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Conversation Lead

School Attendance:

• Khushboo Jain, Director, Community School Network, United Way of Greater Lehigh Valley
• Angela Logan, Principal, Yuma Elementary School District
• Cecelia Leong, Vice President of Programs, Attendance Works, Conversation Lead

Community Services and Supports:

• Kate Bennett, Community Impact Officer, Early Childhood Success and Education Success, United Way of Central Iowa
• April Hopson, Vice President of Adult and General Education, Columbus Technical College 
• Corrine Kroger, Director of Operations/Iowa Regional Director, Vision To Learn
• Katharine Sullivan, Executive Director, The Big Lift, San Mateo County
• Martha Ann Todd, President, Columbus Technical College
• Cheryl Werner, Community Impact Coordinator, United Way of Central Iowa
• Malai Amfahr, Senior Program Officer, Constituency Outreach and Engagement, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Conversation Lead

3–4:30 PM ET
AI’s Gap-Closing Potential: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges

Delve into AI as a strategy to enhance student engagement, increase teacher well-being and close the achievement gap. The integration of AI tools across math, science, humanities and literacy in schools across the nation underscores the critical need for AI literacy in today’s classrooms. At the same time, more and more teachers are leveraging AI as a teaching assistant to streamline lesson planning and set learning objectives to spend more time cultivating meaningful student interactions, which in turn promote teacher wellness and retention. 

But this isn’t happening everywhere. Schools are taking too long to craft AI policies, and we need to swiftly ensure that all students — and all teachers — are getting these opportunities. We can’t allow only wealthy communities to explore this. Join us to discover how AI can empower students and educators, bridging the AI gap and driving education equity for all. 

Keynote:

• Sal Khan, Founder and CEO, Khan Academy

Panelists:

• Amina Fazlullah, Head of Tech Policy Advocacy, Common Sense Media
• Kip Glazer, Ed.D., Principal, Mountain View High, California
• Stacie Johnson, Director of Professional Learning, Khan Academy 
• Keri Rodrigues, Founding President, National Parents Union
• Heather Schwartz, Ph.D., Director of PK-12 Education Program, RAND
• Pat Yongpradit, Chief Academic Officer, Code.org
• Eirene Chen, Director, District Strategy & Operations, Khan Academy, Moderator