a citywide collaborative literacy initiative
Worcester Education Collaborative, along with our local and state partners, are proud to announce Raising Readers Together, a collaborative community-wide effort to increase literacy achievement among children from birth and build a culture of literacy across the city of Worcester.
The initiative's strategy hinges on leadership and active participation from all sectors of Worcester's education ecosystem. It brings together civic leaders, community organizations, higher education institutions, businesses, funders, families, and educators.
By advancing several interrelated objectives simultaneously and forming broadly inclusive and collaborative teams, Raising Readers Together is a new campaign to ensure a holistic approach to literacy improvement.
Learn more about what’s been accomplished already
DONATE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Your contribution will directly support Raising Readers Together programming and resources.
WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED?
A look back at programming from Spring 2024.
Lunch & Learns for Professionals
Family Reading Days
Community Screening OF The Right to Read
Partner Reading Events
Resources for families
Learn about ways you can support your young reader for free.
understanding the literacy crisis
Reading proficiency by 3rd grade is a critical benchmark for long-term success in an individual’s lifetime. As students shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” literacy skills become a more crucial component of all curriculum areas, further steepening the consequences of falling behind. Research shows that students who fail to meet this benchmark are at significantly greater risk for dropping out of school or failing to earn a high school diploma.
In 2022, most states across the country showed a decline in reading scores from 2019 (NAEP, 2022). A recent article in Commonwealth Beacon also called out Massachusetts for the largest widening of the achievement gap of poor and non-poor students out of any state. The same article noted that Massachusetts students lost the equivalent of two-fifths of a year in reading during the pandemic, while Worcester students lost three-fifths of a year. In Worcester, only 27% of Worcester Public School 3rd graders met or exceeded benchmark requirements on the 2023 English and Language Arts MCAS assessment (DESE, 2023).
INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
The Raising Readers Together initiative is structured to ensure continuous progress towards literacy improvement in the city. Adaptability is a core component of the campaign. A planning team of diverse Worcester organizations and agencies has already begun to plan next steps for the initiative to ensure that it reflects the interests of the community and leverages any resources available to support literacy improvement for Worcester students. This planning team will meet quarterly to review progress and revise plans as needed.
The planning team is excited to announce the Community Champions that have been confirmed to-date. This group will take action to identify additional city and civic leaders to engage in the project and work to target and cultivate additional local and regional funding sources.
Community Champions
Peter Dunn | Chief Executive Officer, Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Karen Pelletier | Executive Vice President, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
Monica Thomas-Bonnick | Vice President, Webster Five Savings Bank
Sue Mailman | Member, Worcester School Committee
Pat Paugh | Professor of Education, University of Massachusetts Boston
Elizabeth Bacon | Coordinator, Clemente Worcester
Eliana Agudelo | Chief of Staff, Mayor’s Office, City of Worcester
Tim Garvin | President & CEO, United Way of Central Massachusetts
Jennifer Davis Carey | Executive Director, Worcester Education Collaborative
Project Partners
Thank you to our project partners for their invaluable support and collaboration.
Worcester Education Collaborative
City of Worcester Division of Youth Opportunities
Education Reform Now Massachusetts
Edward Street
Friendly House
Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts
The Reading League of Massachusetts
United Way of Central Massachusetts
Office of Mayor Joseph Petty
Worcester Family Partnership
Worcester Public Library
Worcester Public Schools
Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
RESOURCES
Achieving Reading Proficiency: The Challenge Before Us
Watch Ron Noble, Chief of Teacher Prep for the National Council on Teacher Quality, lay out the challenges today’s students face in achieving reading proficiency. Ron is joined by parent advocate, Dignamar Figueroa, who shares her perspectives on the challenges caretakers face in trying to help their children achieve their literacy goals. This discussion provides an eye-opening look into the current literacy crisis happening in Worcester and nationally.
Literacy Support in Worcester
Watch Hanover Research present a community scan on the supports currently available in Worcester to help students and families develop literacy skills. This presentation also provides an update on how Worcester Public Schools is supporting students’ literacy achievement.
Best Practices and a Shared Worcester Response
Watch as we turn our eyes to the future! After learning about the challenges of achieving high literacy rates among students and what supports already exist in Worcester, what are best practices for parent and community engagement in supporting student literacy? Which of these practices can Worcester adopt, and what new ideas can we come up with to address literacy rates in our city? What are the actions we can commit to now to assure student success? These questions and more are answered in this Lunch & Learn.
Amplify CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts): A New Reading Curriculum for Worcester Students
To help community members understand why the Amplify CKLA curriculum was chosen as the primary curriculum for all kindergarten through 5th grade students beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, WEC published two briefs targeting parents and practioners working with youth.
Photo gallery
Family Reading Events
The Right to Read: Community Film Screening
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