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From the Director
“Especially with children, the days are long, but the years are short.”
This is one of State Rep. Randy Nix's (R-LaGrange) favorite quotes. He invokes his fascination with time-lapse when he expresses our need to invest in children’s success during their first eight years—or, as he defines it—just 416 Saturdays.
Nix said if Georgia is going to thrive and continue to be the No. 1 place in the country to do business, failure in getting all kids to read proficiently by third grade isn't an option. Watch his lightning talk—and read his letter in the Beyond 2020: Rewriting Our Story to Improve Childhood Literacy report that shares what we’ve learned, our successes, and our challenges—and what we need to do next to ensure that every child in Georgia has access to the services and supports necessary to get on the path to learning to read by third grade.
With gratitude,
Arianne
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#GetGAReading this Month
Please share these posts on your own social media platforms this month.
 “If GA is going to continue to thrive and be the No. 1 place in the country to do business, failure in getting all kids on the path to reading proficiency by third grade is not an option.” Rep. Randy Nix says we need to plant seeds of change to create thriving communities by using the four-pillar framework to develop local solutions. http://bit.ly/39uuW3z
 “The #GetGAReading Campaign eliminates all the education silos and establishes a process that goes from prenatal care all the way through high school graduation.” Rep. Randy Nix says we need to plant seeds of change in #GA to create thriving communities. http://bit.ly/39uuW3z
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MEET THE CABINET
 Founded by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Georgia Economic Development Association, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE) works to ensure education policies and practices across the birth-to-career pipeline are informed by research and best practices. Each year, GPEE publishes the Top 10 Issues to Watch report and organizes Critical Issues Forums. Learn More
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 Butts County Launches Literacy Task Force
More than 50 Butts County leaders are striving to create a community-wide focus on learning readiness that will eradicate the reasons some children fail. The Butts County Literacy Task Force collects books to distribute in children's weekend backpacks and plans to launch a mobile learning center this summer. Superintendent Todd Simpson is optimistic that reading scores will improve with this collaborative effort. Find out why Simpson calls it “upstream work.”
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 Fulton County Literacy Event Reaches Children in the Waiting Room
Reach Out and Read Georgia hosted a community event in Fulton County that turned into a “family gathering” with Primrose Schools volunteers, community members, families, and pediatricians reading to children in the waiting room and leading parents to a pop-up nutrition cart filled with seasonal fruits and vegetables. Doctors prescribed daily family reading time.
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 Recognizing the Signals Children are Sending
The “Signals: Social-Emotional and Mental Health Development for Children and Teens” webinar series reveals how a child’s behavior might reflect underlying issues and how to respond in appropriate ways. It helps educators determine the impact of language development on literacy and behavior—and develop strategies to facilitate language acquisition and literacy in early childhood. The interactive modules focus on solutions rather than remedies.
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Every. One. Counts. Census 2020 in Georgia
Georgia Family Connection Partnership and Voices for Georgia’s Children are working together to ensure an accurate count for Georgia in the 2020 Census, which affects federal funding, Congressional representation, and more—impacting all Georgians’ lives for the next 10 years. The partners compiled resources to ensure a complete count, including videos, flyers, FAQs, maps of “hard-to-count” populations, and social media toolkits.
Top Ten Issues to Watch
Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education released its 16th annual Top Ten Issues to Watch report, which predicts 1.5 million unemployable state residents by 2030 unless we better educate our current and future workforce. The report highlights literacy as the “great equalizer,” sustaining progress in early learning systems, addressing health and other non-academic barriers that affect students’ success, and the need to align and link efforts in rural areas to address poverty.
Early Learning Communities Support Children and Families
The Center for the Study of Social Policy and National League of Cities have developed a set of tools to help communities support children’s learning and development. The Early Learning Community Action Guide offers tips, lessons, and other resources to help community coalitions develop and implement concrete action plans to support young children and their families. The Progress Rating Tool helps assess where a community is on its journey to becoming an Early Learning Community.
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Read Across America Day
Monday, March 2
Read Across America is a reading motivation and awareness program hosted by the National Education Association that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. From promotional materials to fact sheets to media tips, these great resources will help you get started. Plan Your Event
PBS KIDS Writers Contest
Submission Deadline: Friday, March 20
GPB's PBS KIDS Writers Contest is open to Georgia students in grades K – 3. Children are encouraged to submit original, illustrated stories for great prizes and a chance to be featured on the GPB website. Learn More
GLR Learning Tuesdays Webinars
March 3, 10, and 17; 3 p.m.
The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading’s (GLR) series of online learning events for the GLR Network helps lift up the best science, ideas, and programs to inform local efforts. Upcoming topics include investing in parents, academic parent-teacher teams, and moving from trauma-informed to asset-informed care approaches. Register Now
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We Want to Hear From You
Our partners are the heroes in this work, and we want to help connect you with each other and with resources that can help you get even greater results. And we want to hear more stories. Please share yours with us so we can post it to getgeorgiareading.org. Send your stories—or any questions about the Campaign—to Arianne Weldon at arianne@gafcp.org.
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