Oakland Reads 2020
Oakland Reads 2020 is a citywide initiative focused on the most important predictor
of school success and high school graduation—grade-level reading by the end of
third grade. An initiative of the Oakland Literacy Coalition, OR2020 is a
collaborative effort between the school district, city, local agencies and a network of
organizations all committed to the success of early learners. OR2020 is leveraging
partnerships to create community solutions and results.
Oakland Reads 2020 (OR2020) aims to double the percent of Oakland students
reading successfully by the end of third grade. We envision an Oakland where at
least 85 percent of our students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade
by 2020 -- a critical indicator of future success. We are mobilizing the community to
build a commitment and take action around four key pillars of reading success:
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Kindergarten Readiness
School Attendance / Chronic Absence
Summer Learning
Family Engagement.
Schools cannot succeed alone. We believe that the academic success of children
requires engaged communities mobilized to remove barriers, expand opportunities,
and assist parents to serve as full partners in the success of their children. OR2020
is mobilizing the community to take action around four key pillars of reading
success.
Our Goal: By the Year 2020, at least 85% of Oakland students will be reading
proficiently when they finish third grade
Together OR2020 has mobilized community members and built commitment to a
common goal: 85% of Oakland third graders reading at or above grade-level by the
end of third grade. And we know it will take every one of us. The OR2020 effort
spearheaded by the Oakland Literacy Coalition and the Mayor’s office has been
firmly grounded in a community network of providers and practitioners. That
foundation has proven critical in gaining momentum and support. A steering
Committee of 7 key local agencies has been active in 2013 to guide and support the
initiative. Bringing partners to the table has been a key function of OR2020 and
continues to be a priority.
OR2020 has cultivated partnerships, engaged stakeholders from across the city, and
focused on projects aimed at supporting our key strategy areas. The new Oakland
Reads 2020 website and social media platforms have helped raise the profile of the
challenge set forth by OR2020. The Community Voices Blog has been sharing
community stories of the great work happening in Oakland in support of the
Oakland Literacy Coalition and OR2020.
OR2020 has been focusing its early efforts on some key projects and issues aimed at
sounding a call to action, mobilizing the community, creating sound infrastructure
for the initiative and supporting early learners. The efforts highlighted below
represent a cross-section of work being led by Oakland Reads 2020.
Oakland Reads 2020 Symposium
Over 150 community members joined us on June 17th for our official Oakland Reads
2020 Launch. For 5 hours the Downtown Oakland Marriot transformed into a
dynamic zone dedicated to laying out the challenges facing our early learners. Our
speakers shared their leadership and inspiration for the OR2020 vision, and our
sessions asked participants to draw on a common agenda for Oakland’s kids.
Plenary speakers Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Assemblymember Rob Bonta,
Managing Director for the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Ralph Smith, and then
OUSD Superintendent Tony Smith all joined our call to action and emphasized the
critical importance of early learning outcomes and opportunities for Oakland. Our
roughly 150 session participants joined workshops around our 4 pillars designed to
lay the foundation for collective impact and action in Oakland, as well as sessions on
community engagement and Black male achievement.
Our closing speaker and former Superintendent Tony Smith helped us close by
reminding us that “literacy is a community activity…through literacy you give
children the power of agency, and a way to make a better life and a better world.”
By the end of the day, we had put a stake in the ground and called our community to
action.
Using participant feedback we have been able to build a bigger tent and engage new
stakeholders and leaders in our work and draw on community expertise around
action areas. OR2020 will be planning annual general community convenings to
share and build community solutions.
Planning for Action
OR2020 is committed to the principals of Collective Impact. We spent 2013 building
a deeper understanding—and commitment—to collective impact with partners
across the city. OR2020 has a strong partnership with Urban Strategies Council to
build an effective framework to organize for action. We’ve carefully developed a set
of indicators to help track progress and develop a Baseline & Formative Report (to
be released in 2014) led by Urban Strategies Council, which will inform the basis of
new working groups charged with developing action plans and strategies around
the OR2020 pillars.
OR2020 is committed to creating a strong infrastructure to support the initiative,
enable strong cross-sector collaboration to achieve our goals, and bring forth new
ways for all our stakeholders to find engage with the initiative.
Volunteering & Supporting Schools
Beginning with our strong showing of Brookfield Village Elementary School
partners supporting literacy through Family Reading Nights, the Reading Challenge,
and regular meetings to improve collaboration, we have been increasing our efforts
to build alliances with schools. This year we have highlighted activities to support
schools and show the power of volunteers. We are proud of all our volunteers who
helped us launch our first series of School Work Days—volunteer days to support
projects in local schools. This fall we organized 5 “Book Leveling Parties” with over
90 volunteers gathering in schools to “level” classroom libraries so they are teacher
and student ready. These classroom libraries are directly tied to Oakland Unified
School District’s efforts to promote balanced literacy and support tools for the new
common core curriculum. As part of this effort, OR2020 was successful in
fundraising $85,000 to provide balanced book sets to preschool to third grade
classrooms in 26 schools. With a strong showing and support for School Work Days,
we will continue to prioritize opportunities for supporting schools, organizing
community oriented projects, and engaging volunteers.