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Grade Level Reading Update Copyrighted April 3, 2017 City of Dubuque Action Items # 6. ITEM TITLE: Grade Level Reading Update SUMMARY: City Manager providing a report from the Leisure Services Department on the initiatives and actions related to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading as well as efforts of the past year and future actions. Staff will make a presentation SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Staff Presentation ATTACHMENTS: Description Type Grade Level Reading Update-MVM Memo City Manager Memo Staff Memo Staff Memo Grade Level Reading - Self Assessment Supporting Documentation THE CM OF Dubuque AAA-A m c DUB E 11 1r Masterpiece on the Mississippi -2012I rP PP �oo� .zo13 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Leisure Services Update Report on Campaign for Grade Level Reading DATE: March 23, 2017 Leisure Services Manager Marie Ware is transmitting information on the efforts of the Leisure Services Department related to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. In 2014, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning was awarded a 3-year federal grant focused specifically around Dubuque's Campaign for Grade Level Reading. Every school year since 2014, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning has recruited over 30 diverse, Dubuque community members to be trained and placed as Academic Reading Tutors in the Dubuque Community School District (DCSD). In the 2015-2016 school year, 34 AmeriCorps members tutored 1,431 K-3rd grade students who were not reading proficiently at their grade level. They tutored 468 students 30 times or more. The students who worked with AmeriCorps members 30 times or more are the students who worked with AmeriCorps consistently and whose data was assessed. Out of the 468 students, 416 students (89%) improved their score from the Fall 2015 to the Spring 2016. Other impactful data shows that 94% of the 468 students AmeriCorps tutored attended school 90% of the time or more. School attendance is a critical piece to the equation in regards to reading proficiently by grade level. Research suggests students attend school when they feel connected to caring adults who notice whether they show up and have a trusting relationship. AmeriCorps members provide that trusting relationship. Third grade is a critical milestone for students academically and socially. Up to the third grade students are learning to read, but after third grade students are reading to learn. Some states use third grade reading scores as one component of their efforts to project future prison populations. Research suggests, 74% of students who are not reading proficiently by 3rd grade will not graduate from high school. Simply, when school is difficult for students, students can become disengaged and potentially disruptive. This makes graduation much more difficult. Therefore, having a community where all students are proficient readers at 3rd grade will give students a path to graduate from high school and make our community more equitable. During the summer months, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning have two main focuses. The first is supporting summer learning programs focused around the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. These programs work to curb the 'Summer Slide" which occurs due to the lack of academic instruction and activities for children in the summer months, especially for children in poverty. The second focus is providing safe, caring adults and spaces for all Dubuque youth during the summer months. AmeriCorps members are mentors and role models for all youth they encounter in their programs. AmeriCorps members also support several one- time activities in the downtown areas where they encounter hundreds of more youth and families. Leisure Services continues to evaluate and enhance the summer Playground program to provide a quality, safe, and equitable program for close to 1 ,000 children each year. In the summer of 2016, the program was held in 16 parks throughout Dubuque. 8 of these parks located in the downtown area (Comiskey, Orange, Prescott, Jackson, Marshall, Jefferson, Burden, Lincoln) were staffed with both City and AmeriCorps personnel and included STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Music, and Math) curriculum with the day's activities. 4 of these morning parks (Comiskey, Lincoln, Marshall, Prescott) received breakfast and lunch provided by the Dubuque Boys and Girls Club. Since the addition of the AmeriCorps staff in 2013 and the implementation of summer learning activities in these downtown parks, the average daily attendance has increased by 100%. Using what has been learned over these past 3 summers in regards to programming, staffing (with AmeriCorps), the relationships built with local partners and the mapping of various demographics throughout the community, this model of summer playground programming will be expanded to 16 playground sites in the summer of 2017. The City of Dubuque partnership with Dubuque Community School District continues to be strong in the summer as well. Leisure Services staff and AmeriCorps Partners in Learning members both supported the school district's Summer Academy in 2016. Summer Academy consists of certified School District teachers providing the summer reading program in the morning. The afternoon consists of enrichment for about 150 children. For the full day Summer Academy to run, Reading Corps members were assigned to support the school's summer program, enrichment, before and after care. These Reading Corps members were provided through a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to the Summer Academy. Leisure Services managed and oversaw the grant and ultimately these Reading Corps members. These Reading Corps members are from a statewide program and not the AmeriCorps Partners in Learning. Due to the efforts of all the Campaign Partners throughout the years, the following are a list of outcomes achieved during the 2015/2016 school year compared to the 2014/2015 year: 2 • School Readiness held steady at 92% • 4-year-old preschool participation increased by 4% • Chronic absence reduced by 25% • 78% of Summer Academy students maintained or improved reading proficiency * 3 rd Grade Reading improved by 2% AmeriCorps Partners in Learning has submitted its federal, competitive grant application for the 2017-2018 Competitive AmeriCorps grant. The Dubuque grant application continued its focus on the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading with an even more narrow focus on supporting the Dubuque Community School District with Academic Reading Tutors during the school year and partnering with summer providers who also focus on the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. This application was aided by an independent evaluation of the Partners in Learning program. This application was funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. If awarded, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning would have 38 Academic Reading Tutors in the Dubuque Community School District during the school year and 30 in total supporting summer learning programs. The summer programs are: Leisure Services Playground Explorations, Carnegie-Stout Public Library, St. Mark Youth Enrichment, Dream Center and DCSD Summer Academy. Results of the competition are set to be announced no later than April 7th. Leisure Services Manager Marie Ware will now make a presentation. Mic ael C. Van Milligen'�' MCVM:jh Attachment cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager Marie L. Ware, Leisure Services Manager Stan Rheingans, Dubuque Community School District Superintendent Nancy Van Milligen, President & CEO, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque 3 THE COF Dubuque DtUB EAII•AmericaCitY Masterpiece on the Mississippi 2007•2012 •2013 TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: Marie L. Ware, Leisure Services Manager SUBJECT: Leisure Services Update Report on Campaign for Grade Level Reading DATE: March 23, 2017 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this memorandum is to share work the Leisure Service Department has been engaged in related to the City Council 16-18 Management in Progress Social/ Cultural Vibrancy Goal related to Campaign for Grade Level Reading. This work is also equity work in our community thus a part of inclusive goals as well. BACKGROUND The Third Grade Reading Initiative began with the development and now implementation of the Community Solutions Action Plan (CSAP) that resulted in an All- America City Award in 2013. Leisure Services staff was highly involved in the development of the plan and has continued to be involved in the overall Campaign committee as well as the summer learning committee. DISCUSSION The Leisure Services staff has been engaged in numerous projects, initiatives and actions related to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. This summary will share those efforts of the past year as well as future actions. AmeriCorps Partners in Learning In 2014, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning was awarded a 3-year federal grant focused specifically around Dubuque's Campaign for Grade Level Reading. Every school year since 2014, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning has recruited over 30 diverse, Dubuque community members to be trained and placed as Academic Reading Tutors in the Dubuque Community School District (DCSD). AmeriCorps members are trained on DCSD's specific reading interventions and strategies that align with DCSD curriculum. Next members are placed at one of the DCSD's elementary schools and serve as Tutors for the full school year. Once at the school, AmeriCorps members are assigned to tutor students who are not reading proficiently in their grade level based off DCSD fall's reading assessment. During the school year, AmeriCorps members work closely with each school's Instructional Coach, classroom teachers and Principal to implement the correct reading intervention all while building strong, impactful mentoring relationships with their students. AmeriCorps members receive a modest living allowance and an education award for their service to the community. In the 2015-2016 school year, 34 AmeriCorps members tutored 1 ,431 K-3rd grade students who were not reading proficiently at their grade level. They tutored 468 students 30 times or more. The students who worked with AmeriCorps members 30 times or more are the students who worked with AmeriCorps consistently and whose data we assessed. Out of the 468 students, 416 students (89%) improved their score from the Fall 2015 to the Spring 2016. Other impactful data shows that 94% of the 468 students AmeriCorps tutored attended school 90% of the time or more. School attendance is a critical piece to the equation in regards to reading proficiently by grade level. Research suggests students attend school when they feel connected to caring adults who notice whether they show up and have a trusting relationship. AmeriCorps members provide that trusting relationship. 3rd grade is a critical milestone for students academically and socially. Research suggests, 74% of students who are not reading proficiently by 3rd grade will not graduate from high school. Simply, when school is difficult for students, students can become disengaged and potentially disruptive. This makes graduation much more difficult. Therefore, having a community where all students are proficient readers at 3rd grade will give students a path to graduate from high school and make our community more equitable. During the summer months, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning have two main focuses. The first is supporting summer learning programs focused around the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. These programs work to curb the 'Summer Slide" which occurs due to the lack of academic instruction and activities for children in the summer months, especially for children in poverty. Therefore, AmeriCorps members serve at the following summer programs providing academic support: Multicultural Family Center's Future Talk, St. Mark Youth Enrichment's Summer Academy, DCSD Summer Academy, Carnegie Stout Public Library and Leisure Service's Playground Explorations Program. Many of these summer programs are free or very low-cost programs for children and family. Therefore, the service AmeriCorps members are providing these families is critical to the halting the summer slide. Without these programs and AmeriCorps members, many youth might not have access to these opportunities in the summer. The second focus is providing safe, caring adults and spaces for all Dubuque youth during the summer months. AmeriCorps members are mentors and role models for all youth they encounter in their programs. AmeriCorps members also support several one- time activities in the downtown areas where they encounter hundreds of more youth and families. For example, AmeriCorps members provide children's activities for summer community events such as Music in the Park at Jackson Park as well as activities hosted at Comiskey Park including Juneteenth, Movies in the Park, National Night Out 2 and Back to School Bash. AmeriCorps is proud to serve the Dubuque Community during the summertime by being great role models for our neighborhoods and kids. Recreation Division and AmeriCorps Partners in Learning Leisure Services continues to evaluate and enhance the summer Playground program to provide a quality, safe, and equitable program for close to 1 ,000 children each year. In the summer of 2016, the program was held in 16 parks throughout Dubuque. 8 of these parks located in the downtown area (Comiskey, Orange, Prescott, Jackson, Marshall, Jefferson, Burden, Lincoln) were staffed with both City and AmeriCorps personnel and included STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Music, and Math) curriculum with the day's activities. 4 of these morning parks (Comiskey, Lincoln, Marshall, Prescott) received breakfast and lunch provided by the Dubuque Boys and Girls Club. Since the addition of the AmeriCorps staff in 2013 and the implementation of summer learning activities in these downtown parks, the average daily attendance has increased by 100%. Using what has been learned over these past 3 summers in regards to programming, staffing (with AmeriCorps), the relationships built with local partners and the mapping of various demographics throughout the community, this model of summer playground programming will be expanded to 16 playground sites in the summer of 2017. Dubuque Community School District's Summer Academy Our partnership with Dubuque Community School District continues to be strong in the summer as well. Recreation staff and AmeriCorps Partners in Learning members both supported the school district's Summer Academy in 2016. In fact, without the support of Recreation staff and AmeriCorps Partners in Learning, the Summer Academy would not have been possible. Summer Academy consists of certified School District teachers providing the summer reading program in the morning. The afternoon consists of enrichment for about 150 children. For the full day Summer Academy to run, Reading Corps members were assigned to support the school's summer program, enrichment, before and after care. These Reading Corps members were provided through a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to the Summer Academy. Leisure Services managed and oversaw the grant and ultimately these Reading Corps members. These Reading Corps members are from a statewide program and not the AmeriCorps Partners in Learning. In addition to Recreation overseeing the Reading Corps grant and members, both AmeriCorps Partners in Learning and recreation division playground staff provided before and after care for the Summer Academy which served an average of 35 youth per day. In addition, the Recreation Division supplied 2 seasonal staff to help with the afternoon activity portion of the program. Recreation is also supporting St. Mark's summer reading program at the end of the day with active recreation time activities. To provide this service, the playground program 3 was extended at Prescott School by starting an hour earlier than all other parks. This allowed for the St. Mark students to safely transition into our playground program. As a result, an additional 26 youth were served. School Year Outcomes Due to the efforts of all the Campaign Partners throughout the years, the following are a list of outcomes achieved during the 2015/2016 school year compared to the 2014/2015 year: • School Readiness held steady at 92% • 4-year-old preschool participation increased by 4% • Chronic absence reduced by 25% • 78% of Summer Academy students maintained or improved reading proficiency * 3 rd Grade Reading improved by 2% All-America City Award for 2017 All-American City Application has been submitted through The Campaign for Grade- Level Reading's Self-Assessment. 53 communities are competing for All-America City Award. The award recipients will be announced in June of 2017. The Grade-Level Reading Community Self-Assessment is a rigorous process designed to help communities reflect on what's working and prepare for the next phase of learning and action. This was the basis of the application for the 2017 All-American City Award. The application process heavily relied on data collected as well as sharing work done in the areas of school readiness, summer learning, attendance and the overall grade level reading efforts. The 2017 assessment and application provides an excellent overview of Dubuque's efforts since the original 2012 CSAP was developed. That assessment and application are attached and I encourage you to see how this truly is an example of collective impact. AmeriCorps Partners in Learning and Leisure Services Recreation Division played an integral role in the application process. Both entities submitted data and stories to showcase Dubuque's collective impact model addressing the needs of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Marie Ware and Cindy Steinhauser assisted in editing the submissions from the many partners to create a cohesive application. Ten community members then peer reviewed three applications from others applying for the All America City Award as well. From the City Dan Kroger, Marie Ware, and Cindy Steinhauser completed peer reviews. Campaign for Grade Level Reading Committees 4 The Campaign for Grade Level Reading consists of three subcommittees. These subcommittees are as follows: Summer Learning, Attendance and School Readiness. The Summer Learning committee's main goal is to collaborate with all summer providers, and create meaningful summer opportunities for children in Dubuque. The Attendance committee's main goal is to promote the importance of school attendance for all grades. The attendance committee also looks at barriers families may have around attendance and tries to eliminate these barriers. Lastly, the School Readiness committee's main goal is to promote quality early childhood opportunities so children come to school ready to learn. Mary Bridget Corken-Deutsch, AmeriCorps Director participates in both the Summer Learning and Attendance committee. Dan Kroger, Recreation Division Manager and Brian Feldott, Program Supervisor and I participate in the Summer Learning committee. Dan, Mary Bridget and I also attend the Campaign for Grade Level Reading partner meetings as well. Next Steps AmeriCorps Partners in Learning Application AmeriCorps Partners in Learning has submitted its federal, competitive grant application for the 2017-2018 Competitive AmeriCorps grant. Our grant application continued its focus on the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading with an even more narrow focus on supporting the Dubuque Community School District with Academic Reading Tutors during the school year and partnering with summer providers who also focus on the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. This application was aided by an independent evaluation of the Partners in Learning program. This application was funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. If awarded, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning would have 38 Academic Reading Tutors in the Dubuque Community School District during the school year and 30 in total supporting summer learning programs. The summer programs are: Leisure Services Playground Explorations, Carnegie-Stout Public Library, St. Mark Youth Enrichment, Dream Center and DCSD Summer Academy. Results of the competition are set to be announced no later than April 7th. Currently AmeriCorps is proposed as a program to be eliminated as a part of the White House budget. Partners are all doing what they can to tell the story of how important the program is to the Grade Level Reading efforts and achievements in Dubuque. All-America City Award for 2017 In June, hundreds of civic and community leaders, public officials and educators from across the country will come together for the 2017 All-America City Awards Gathering to recognize communities that exemplify outstanding civic accomplishments and are leading the way on grade-level reading efforts. Communities nationwide are invited to attend the AAC Awards Gathering to reflect and share what they have learned and 5 explore how to achieve even bigger outcomes. AAC Award winners in 2017 will be communities that: Demonstrate they have moved the needle on outcomes for low-income children in at least two of the following community solutions areas: school readiness, school attendance, summer learning and/or grade-level reading. Address the National Civic League's key process criteria of civic engagement, cross-sector collaboration and inclusiveness. Bonus points will be awarded for communities that have a plan for sustainability and for aligning, linking, stacking and bundling the most promising and proven programs, practices and strategies. Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Committees All committees continue to meet and move its respective agenda forward. Mary Bridget, Dan, Brian and Marie will continue to represent Leisure Services and the City Council's Goal related to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. A summary of this report was provided by staff to the Park and Recreation Commission at the March 14, 2017 meeting. Many of these statistics were also presented as part of the Recreation budget hearing on February 22, 2017. ACTION REQUESTED This memorandum is for informational purposes only to share all the efforts of the City in the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. Memo prepared by: Mary Bridget Corken-Deutsch, AmeriCorps Director Dan Kroger, Recreation Division Manager 6 The Campaign fo All-America City GRADE— LEVEL Noll oRge Alfri1LGCnJI' READING I I® r Review 2016 Grade,Level Reading SelfAssessmentTool The Self Assesment is designed as tool to help communmes reflect on and share what working In their oRotls to Improve reading pmticiency for low income child ren by the antl of the third gaus It also serves as the official application for the 2017 All America City Awards and the source of Information that the Campaign for Grade Level Reading will use In identifying communities for 2016 Pacrsefter porous. You may use this SelfAssessmentto'. 1. Be considered for a 2017 AOAmeris City Awartl, presented by the Nations l Civic League and the Campaign for Grade Lev aI Reatling. 2 Be considered for 2016 Pacesetter Honors by the CampaignforGade-Leve l Reading (Please note than Pacesetter Honors vnll be assumed only to commun0irs than are officially cognized as members of the Campaign for Grade Level Reading Network we of January 31,2017) 3. Asatoolin r refle do n on o or work a no progress,a no we therefore do N OT wish to be con side retl for ether recognition P01] All Ame Has Cby Awartl, 2016 Pacesefter Honor). Previously you anews red questions Indicating your purpose In completing the Self Assessm ant If your intent has cbangod, contact Susanne Bell at sosonna@am one rise min go ran p.coo or at 4435763532 If you have any orber questions or nand asslslancc with the Se H-Asessment please ccnect Susanne as well To be con stlere tl for Pace were r Henorsano the AOAmeri a City Awards, please complete an submit your as H-assessm ant b y Jan us a 31 20 ] Thank you inr using this Sell-Assessm ant to of an d for sharing Information about your efforts and progress with others engaged In grade level reading efforts all across the con MCI Section A: Measurable Progress tovods Solving the Problem Description of your mmmuniy's measurable progress within the peat fire years in outcomes for low income - children in school readinss,eschool attendance, summer leerming, en Nor reeding preference in the early At Selectthe Solutions AreaO for which you have made measurable progress within the pastfive years (i e., starting with whatever year within the pas five years that you consider to be the baseline or 1 beginning year of your local grade-level reading effort) for low-income children at any one or more of ages/grades early childhood through third grade: W School Readiness FV School Attendance r Summer Learning r Grade-Level Reading Progress Indicators For assistance with these items, see the Measurable Progress Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at http://glrhuddle.org/awardfags. • School Readiness— More children from low-income families are ready for school and developmentally on track, or fewer children entering kindergarten with undetected, undiagnosed, and untreated conditions or delays that can impede learning. • School Attendance—Fewer children from low-income families are chronically absent and missing school due to asthma or other health-related concerns. • Summer Learning — More children from low-income families are maintaining or increasing their reading levels over the summer. • Grade-Level Reading— More children from low-income families are reading at or above grade- level at the end of first, second, and third grade. School Readiness For Measurable Progress for low-income children in School Readiness: Please provide us with responses for the age or grade level at which low-income children have made the most progress (i.e., your best- case example) for early childhood through third grade. Please note that you should provide data reflecting your efforts over at least two years within the past five years (i.e., starting with whatever year within the past five years that you consider the baseline or beginning year of your local grade-level reading effort). My community has measurable progress in the area of school readiness to report. C Yes C No A3. What specific measure are you using to report progress? [50 words] Dubuque uses the GOLD Assessment as the measure of student readiness. Students are assessed upon completion of 4-year old preschool, prior to entering Kindergarten. Approximately 91% of 4 year olds attend pre-school in Dubuque Iowa's Voluntary Pre-school Program that provides free pre-school to all 4-year olds. (46 words) A4. For what specific age group, grade or cohort are you reporting data? [50 words] The GOLD assessment measures readiness at the end of 4-year old preschool. This represents all 4-year old students in the Dubuque Community School District. Since the Dubuque Community School District is our only public school district, this represents nearly all students in the community. [43 words] 2 Asa. What was your baseline number for this age group, grade or cohort? [50 words] The GOLD assessment baseline measure in 2013-14 reported 656 of 721 students in the Dubuque Community School District ready for school. 44.1% of the students were low-income qualifying for free/reduced lunch. [31 words] ASB. What was your percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 656 Dubuque Community School District students equates to a baseline of 90.9% of students ready for school in 2013-14. [19 words] A6. When was this baseline data collected? Note that your baseline year should not go back any further than the 2011-12 school year. [20 words] The 2013-14 school year was our baseline year for measuring school readiness data. [13 words] Ala What is your most recent number for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 2014-15 reported 675 of 733 students in Dubuque Community Schools ready for school; 41.8% of the students were low-income. [19 words] Alb What is your most recent percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] This represents a baseline of 92.1% of students ready for school in 2014-15 in the Dubuque Community School District. [19 words] A8. When was your most recent data collected? [20 words] The 2014-15 school year is the most recent GOLD assessment data; student readiness progress was maintained at 92.3% in 2015-16. [20 words] A9. What instrument or tool was used to collect this data? [100 words] The instrument used is the Teaching Strategies GOLD On-line Assessment. All State-Wide Voluntary Preschool Program Classrooms, both public-school and community-preschool based, assess children on four major developmental domains and five content areas continually via teacher observation and evidence gathered online during children's preschool year. It is a comprehensive assessment that measures the growth and development of children from birth to kindergarten entry. Behaviors and skills that are most predictive of school success are measured. These behaviors and skills make up the 38 Objectives for Development and Learning that are in close alignment with the Iowa Early Learning Standards. (98 words) A10. What was the source of the data? [100 words] The source of data used is the Dubuque Community School Districts student information system, specifically data from the Teaching Strategies GOLD On-line Assessment. The GOLD Assessment is the required assessment in the State of Iowa. GOLD has been extensively tested by independent researchers and is grounded in the most current research about how children develop and learn. This assessment provides specific strategies for every type of learner, including dual-language learners and those with special needs. (75 words) 3 A11. Please tell us how the data reported above reflects progress specifically for low-income children in your community. [150 words] The data reported by Teaching Strategies GOLD On-line Assessment System is not currently able to disaggregate results for low-income students. To address this, the schools use an Individual Child Report within the system to "drill" deeply into each child's data, measuring progress throughout the year. Teachers study data for each child and are directed to a library of strategies to support the development of targeted skills to improve performance. The strategies support differentiation of instruction individually, or in small groups. Teachers run classroom profile reports with GOLD to determine which children, for example, lack sufficient expressive and receptive vocabulary and the teacher is directed to strategies for improving vocabulary. Teachers receive the latest assessment training available in partnership with the DCSD and focus on the academic and social emotional needs of each child. Individualized strategies are developed to support students with one or more stress agents, often associated with poverty. [150 words] Al 2a. Does the data reported above reflect community-wide population-level progress for low-income children in your community? C Yes C No "Community-wide, population-level progress"can be demonstrated in any of the following ways: 1. on the basis of the geographic unit of change or/catchment area you have defined for your grade-level reading initiative: For example, if your initiative is county-wide, your data would reflect progress on a county-wide indicator, 2. on the basis of an entire neighborhood or system in a particular city. For example, you could cite progress for all children in Headstart or children from WIC families. Al 2b. If yes, please specify how you are defining "community-wide, population-level progress" for your particular community context and grade-level reading effort. For example you may be reporting district- wide data for a particular grade-level population, or you may be reporting data on the grade-level population within a group of Title 1 schools that have been the explicit focus of your local Campaign effort. [150 words] Community-wide, population level progress is defined by the number and percent of 4-year olds in the Dubuque community who are ready for kindergarten. We are reporting district-wide GOLD assessment data, which reflects nearly all 4-year olds in the community. According to Dubuque Community Schools enrollment data 91% of 4-year olds participated in the 4-year preschool program in 2015-16. More than 92% of these students met readiness standards per the GOLD assessment data. This indicates that our use of individual child reports and accompanying strategies are impacting student readiness. 4 Al 2c. If no, what plans do you have for scaling your success beyond a single school or program site? [500 words} While we are showing progress in school readiness community-wide, there is more work to do and we have developed a three-pronged strategy that is already making a difference. Our first prong addresses the issue of educator and program quality. Many centers struggle to hire and retain quality preschool teachers and many home-based childcare providers struggle to maintain high-quality programs that ensure school readiness. To address these two concerns and ensure further progress for all students our plan includes enrolling and supporting more centers and homes in the Iowa Quality Rating System (QRS), an indicator of quality, and establishing training to ensure more high-quality teachers are available. This strategy is paying off and contributing to our progress in school readiness. Through collaboration among our early childhood partners including DCSD, Dubuque County Early Childhood, City of Dubuque, DHS, and Parents as Teachers from 2014 to 2016, we were able to increase the number of QRS rated centers in the community from 35 to 40 centers, a 14% increase. In addition, the quality rating of these centers also improved from an average of 3.028 to 3.425, a 13% increase on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest quality. A second strategy identified in our CSAP, included increasing the number of certified preschool teachers. A unique partnership between Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) and the Dubuque Community Schools made it possible for Juniors and Seniors attending Dubuque High Schools to enroll in a child care curriculum that leads to an early childhood certificate. Students enroll while in high school and receive dual credit. Upon graduation from high school, students complete an additional year of education at the Community College and earn a certificate in early childhood, qualifying them to work in preschools. Since beginning the program in 2013, 901 students have completed the dual-credit program while in high school, and102 have gone on to complete the certificate program at NICC. The credentials are transferrable to a 4-year program as well and 31 students have taken this pathway into the field. This childcare workforce pathway strategy is not only teaching valuable early childhood and parenting skills, it is also critical to ensuring there are quality teachers available for our preschool and childcare programs. Our third strategy involve expanding access in our most vulnerable neighborhoods is critical to serving low-income students and families. To address this, a childcare needs assessment is currently being led by the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. The assessment is designed to both educate community leaders, parents, and childcare professionals on how this issue impacts school performance and identify gaps in service and quality so we can make sure quality, affordable childcare is available for all families. The analysis will serve as a baseline of data for the community to design programs that reflect local need and align with the above two strategies. Through this process our community has aligned to address challenges related to access, quality and workforce to ensure all students are ready for school. [496 words] 5 School Attendance For Measurable Progress in School Attendance: Please provide us with responses for the age or grade level(or combination of age/grade-levels) at which children have made the most progress (i.e., your best- case example) in any of grades K-3. Please note that you should provide data reflecting your efforts over at least two years within the past five years(i.e., starting with whatever year within the past five years that you consider to be the baseline or beginning year of your local grade-level reading effort). Please note that below we are requesting data on your best-case example of overall progress in reducing chronic absence for all students in any of grades K-3(using items A13-21), and then specifically for low-income students in that same grade(using items A22-32). This information will help us understand whether you are putting into place practices and policies that are helping improve attendance for all students and whether or not those efforts are also effectively addressing the needs of your most marginalized populations. If your school district(or one or more of your participating districts) is comprised almost entirely of low-income students, then you may submit your data once(in A13 and A22-32 below) and indicate that is the case specifically in item A31. For assistance with these items, see the Measurable Progress Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) athttp:llglrhuddle.org/awardfags. Al 3. Have you made measurable progress in reducing chronic absence overall for children in any one of grades K-3 in your community? C Yes C No Al 4. What specific measure are you using to report progress? [50 words] The specific measure is chronic absence rates for all Kindergarten students in the Dubuque Community School District's 13 elementary schools. Chronic absence is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, or 18 days. [35 words] Al 5. For what specific age group, grade or cohort are you reporting data? [50 words] Dubuque is reporting data for Kindergarten students in Dubuque Community School's 13 elementary schools. We chose to focus on kindergarten to align with research showing early attendance patterns impact long-term attendance. There were 853 Kindergarten students in the 2014-15 school year. [41 words] Al 6a. What was your baseline number for this age group, grade or cohort? [50 words] In our baseline year, 65 of 853 Kindergarten students were chronically absent. We have identified that many of these students either come from low-income families or live in our lowest census track neighborhoods. This is an important trend factor for our community-based strategy. [44 words] Al 6b. What was your percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 65 students represent a baseline of 7.6% of Kindergarten students who were chronically absent. [18 words] A17. When was this baseline data collected? Note that your baseline year should not go back any further than the 2011-12 school year. [20 words] 6 The 2014-15 school year was the year for collecting and setting the baseline attendance data. [15 words] Al 8a What is your most recent number for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] In our most recent year (2015-16) chronic absence dropped to 46 Kindergarten students in Dubuque Community Schools 13 elementary schools. [20 words] Al 8b What is your most recent percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] In the most recent year (2015-16) chronic absence dropped to 5.7%, a 25% decrease in chronic absence from the baseline. [20 words] A19. When was your most recent data collected? [20 words] The 2015-16 school year is our most recent year for collecting and reporting attendance data. [15 words] A20. What instrument or tool was used to collect this data? [100 words] Each classroom in each of the 13 elementary schools collects attendance data each day. The data is recorded on the Iowa Department of Education website. The Dubuque Community School District imports the data into an Attendance Works District Attendance tool. The tool helps principals in each school and teachers in each classroom see the specific student's attendance data in the context of chronic absence. The tool alerts school personnel to students who are likely to be chronically absent. This helps teachers, principals and parents improve communication to be proactive, engaged and take action. (93 words) A21. What was the source of the data? [100 words] The source of the data is the Dubuque Community School District Attendance Records housed within the district's student information center. This data is then reported to the Iowa Department of Education. [31 words] A22. Have you made measurable progress in reducing chronic absence specifically for low-income children in any of grades K-3? C Yes C No A23. What specific measure are you using to report progress? [50 words max.] Dubuque is reporting progress on chronic absence rates for Kindergarten students at our five Title-1 elementary schools in Dubuque Community School District information system to show the impact we are able to have with low-income students. Chronic absence is missing 10% or more of the school year or 18 days. [50 words] A24. For what specific age group, grade or cohort are you reporting data? [50 words max.] Dubuque is reporting data for students in Kindergarten attending in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years in the Dubuque Community Schools five Title-1 schools. Dubuque has 13 7 elementary schools. The five Title1 schools have 63.8% of chronically absent students and average free / reduced lunch rates of approximately 80%. [50 words] A25a. What was your baseline number for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words max.] 106 of 1074 students were chronically absent is Dubuque's baseline number for K-3 students in the five Title-1 schools. [19 words] A25b. What was your percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words max.] 9.9% of the students in the five Title-1 schools were chronically absent. [14 words] A26. When was this baseline data collected? Note that your baseline year should not go back any further than the 2011-12 school year. [20 words] 2014-15 school year is the baseline year for collecting and reporting chronic absence data and implementing Attendance Works data tool. [19 words] A27a. What is your most recent number for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words max.] 90 of 1102 students were chronically absent is Dubuque's most recent reported number for our five K-3 Title-1 schools. [19 words] A27b. What is your most recent percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words max.] 8.1% of students in five Title-1 schools. A 10.2% decrease from prior year in chronic absence among Title-1 students. [17 words] A28. When was your most recent data collected? [20 words max.] 2015-16 school year is the most recent year of collecting chronic absence data and implementing Attendance Works tools and strategies. [20 words] A29. What instrument or tool was used to collect this data? [100 words max.] Schools collect attendance data in each classroom at each elementary school each day. The data is reported to the Iowa Department of Education. The Dubuque Community Schools also import the data into District Attendance Tracking Tools and Student Attendance Tracking Tools from Attendance Works. The tools help principals in each school and teachers in each classroom to see the specific student's attendance data in the context of chronic absence. The tool alerts school personnel of students who are likely to be chronically absent. This has allowed teachers, principals and parents to be proactive and take action. [96 words] A30. What is the source of the data? [100 words max.] The source of the data is Dubuque Community School District attendance records. This data is exported from the District's student information system into a tool developed by Attendance Works. The tool presents the data in a way that supports use at the building and classroom level by principals and teachers. [50 words] A31. Please tell us how the data reported above reflects progress specifically for low-income children in your community. [150 words max.] 8 The data reported shows the chronic absence rates in Dubuque's five Title-1 schools. Their free / reduced lunch rates reach above 80%. While our attendance effort is district-wide, our five Title-1 schools were the focus of our efforts to curb chronic absence due to the disparity in the levels of chronic absence. Title-1 schools were averaging chronic absence rates ranging from 12-20% while chronic absence rates in our non-Title-1 schools were in the 2-4% range. The disparity led us to pilot specific strategies in one Title-1 school in 2013-14. Everyone played a role in building-wide awareness efforts, outreach by AmeriCorps volunteers, teachers, counselors and the principal, and improved data tracking. During that year chronic absence was reduced from 7%to 2% and best-practices were being shared with other buildings. The following year, Dubuque established baseline data for all Title-1 schools, implemented best- practice strategies and data efforts, including utilizing Attendance Works. [150 words] You may be reporting, for example, • data for a group of students in your district who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch • data on a group of Title 1 schools (Note: The data must reflect progress only for children in one or more grade levels through grade 3. The data should not include children above grade 3.) • district-level data for a school district whose K-3 student enrollment is predominantly low- income • other type of data reflecting measurable progress for low-income children (please describe). A32a. Does the data reported above specifically reflect community-wide, population-level progress for low-income children in your community? C Yes C No "Community-wide, population-level progress"can be demonstrated in any of the following ways: 1. on the basis of the geographic unit of change or/catchment area you have defined for your grade-level reading initiative: For example, if your initiative is county-wide, your data would reflect progress on a county-wide indicator, 2. on the basis of an entire neighborhood or system in a particular city. A32b. If yes, please specify how you are defining "community-wide, population-level progress"for your particular community context and grade-level reading effort. For example, you may be reporting district- wide data for a particular grade-level population, or you may be reporting data on the grade-level population within a group of Title I schools that have been the explicit focus of your local Campaign effort. [150 words max.] Dubuque defines community-wide by reporting district-wide data for all Kindergarteners and for elementary students grades K-3 in the five Title-1 schools. District data showed relatively low levels of chronic absence averaging 4% or less in the remaining schools, with long-term illnesses (e.g. students with cancer, or similar health challenges) and family vacations accounting for most of the chronic absences. With this understanding of the data, we focused our resources on addressing chronic absence in the five Title-1 schools. 9 In the 2014-15 school year 80.8% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch in Dubuque's five Title-1 schools. The number of low-income students rose in the 2015-16 school year to 85.2%. Many parents work multiple jobs, and struggle to maintain stable housing, healthcare, childcare and transportation for their families. With a better understanding of these challenges, we reduced chronic absence in our Title-1 Schools by 10.2%. [145 words] Summer Learning For Measurable Progress for low-income children in Summer Learning: Please provide us with responses for the age or grade level(or any combination of age/grade levels) at which low-income children have made the most progress(i.e., your best-case example) for early childhood through third grade. Please note that you should provide data reflecting your efforts over at least two years within the past five years (i.e., starting with whatever year within the past five years that you consider to be the baseline or beginning year of your local grade-level reading effort). My community has measurable progress in the area of summer learning to report. E Yes E No A33. What specific measure are you using to report progress? [50 words] Dubuque is reporting students who maintained or improved reading proficiency after participating in summer learning programs, as measured by the FAST assessment (the State required reading assessment) given in spring and fall (before / after the summer learning intervention). [39 words] A34. For what specific age group, grade or cohort are you reporting data? [50 words] Dubuque is reporting data for Dubuque Community School District students in grades 1-2 who were not reading proficiently at the end of the school year. 180 of 420 eligible students participated in this first ever summer learning program supported by the community and school district. [45 words] A35a. What was your baseline number for this age group, grade or cohort? [50 words] 133 students maintained or improved reading proficiency. 180 students identified within the District in grades 1-2 who were not reading proficiently participated in the 2015 Summer Academy. 52% of the students qualified were from low-income families. [27 words] A35b. What was your percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 73.8% of students maintained or improved reading proficiency in 2015. 56.3% of low-income students maintained or improved. [17 words] A36. When was this baseline data collected? Note that your baseline year should not go back any further than the 2011-12 school year. [20 words] The 2015 Summer Academy was the baseline year for collecting and reporting data. [13 words] A37a What is your most recent number for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 10 246 students in grades 1-2 who were not reading proficiently participated in 2016 Summer Academy. 56% were from low-income families. [20 words] A37b What is your most recent percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 78.4% of students maintained or improved reading proficiency 2016, a 6.2% improvement from 2015. 64% of low-income students improved [19 words] A38. When was your most recent data collected? [20 words] Data from Summer 2016 participants in the Dubuque Community Schools Summer Academy is the most recent data collected and reported. [20 words] A39. What instrument or tool was used to collect this data? [100 words] The FAST assessment (the State required reading assessment) data from the spring before the Academy and the fall after the Academy were used to measure reading proficiency of all students. Students are tested using computers to measure reading proficiency. Scores from students who took part in Summer Academy were compared from spring to fall to determine if proficiency was maintained or improved. 78% of students maintained or improved in 2016 compared to 74% maintained or improved in 2015. [74 words] A40. What was the source of the data? [100 words] The source data is Dubuque Community School District FAST assessment. Students are assessed in Spring, Winter, and Fall using the FAST assessment. Spring and Fall data is compared to determine whether students maintained or improved reading over the summer. Data is disaggregated to show outcomes for low-income students and other groups including race and gender. We use disaggregated data to target interventions to individual students and groups who need the most support. Disaggregated attendance data helps us improve outreach efforts and support individuals and families who have barriers to accessing the program. [92 words] A41. Please tell us how the data reported above reflects progress specifically for low-income children in your community. [150 words] 64.9% of students who qualified for free or reduced lunch maintained or improved reading scores in 2016 compared with 56.3% in 2015, an improvement of more than 15% in one year! The data shows promise for low-income students. Approximately 56% of the students participating in the Summer Academy were eligible for free / reduced lunch rates. Summer Academy targeted two groups - students who are not proficient in reading and students from low-income families, as research shows low-income families often cannot access summer learning opportunities due to cost, transportation, or other factors. The Summer Academy was designed to address these barriers by providing the program at no cost to families, providing transportation, and wrap-around care; helping working families with early drop-off and late pick-up hours, reducing the need for childcare before and after the program. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks were also provided to make it easy and affordable for low-income families. [150 words] 11 A42a. Does the data reported above reflect community-wide population-level progress for low-income children in your community? Yes No "Community-wide, population-level progress"can be demonstrated in any of the following ways: 1. on the basis of the geographic unit of change or/catchment area you have defined for your grade-level reading initiative: For example, if your initiative is county-wide, your data would reflect progress on a county-wide indicator, 2. on the basis of an entire neighborhood or system in a particular city. For example, you could cite progress for all children in Headstart or children from WIC families. A42b. If yes, please specify how you are defining "community-wide, population-level progress" for your particular community context and grade-level reading effort. For example you may be reporting district- wide data for a particular grade-level population, or you may be reporting data on the grade-level population within a group of Title 1 schools that have been the explicit focus of your local Campaign effort. [150 words] Dubuque is defining community-wide population progress as improvement in proficiency for all Dubuque Community School students in grades 1 and 2, who were not reading proficiently at the end of the school year. Dubuque's has focused on community-wide Summer Learning efforts for grades K-3 to maximize resources, leverage partnership and provide focused interventions prior to 3'' grade. The Dubuque Campaign for Grade Level Reading network consists of partners who help us reach more students community-wide. Our summer learning strategy includes programs at St. Mark Youth Enrichment, The Dream Center, the YMCA/YWCA, and the City Leisure Services Department. These partner programs combined to reach more than 500 students in Summer 2016. This represents approximately 75% of the students we identified as not reading proficiently in grades K-3. This approach contributed to the 15% improvement noted above. Partners are now identifying ways to expand the program and impact for 2017. [146 words] A42c. If no, what plans do you have for scaling your success beyond a single school or program site? [500 words} Our early efforts have been successful with participation in Summer Academy growing by 37% from 180 students in 2015 to 246 students, in 2016! However, this represents just over half of the 1'` and 2"' grade students in need of summer learning supports based on assessments of students reading proficiency. In addition, when you include K-3 the number increases to 750 students in need if summer learning supports community-wide. Based on this data, we must further scale our efforts to expand outreach, align outcomes, and build overall capacity and community awareness. 12 Partnerships with organizations like St. Mark Youth Enrichment, The Dream Center, YM/YWCA, and City parks are helping us expand our reach to more students. A core team from these organizations meet regularly with DCSD and CFGD to focus on identifying objectives and shared outcomes, aligning curriculum, sharing data to monitor student progress and serve even more students. This collaborative approach allows us to engage funders locally and statewide, and advocating for resources, flexibility with school calendars, and regulations that support collaborative solutions in communities. Our CSAP calls for us to build capacity in the community for more summer learning offerings. We are on track to achieve this goal. In 2013 St. Mark Youth Enrichment provided the summer learning program utilizing best practices to improve reading and fight the summer slide. This program served 80 at-risk students. In 2016, the location and number of programs utilizing best practices to improve reading grew to four and served more than 500 students at St. Mark Youth Enrichment, The Dream Center, Dubuque Leisure Services, and the Dubuque Schools Summer Academy. Additionally, the School District has taken a leadership role in supporting and scaling summer learning programming. Our network of partners is working together to build capacity of existing private providers and increase participation in the Dubuque Schools Summer Academy, especially for the readers with the greatest challenges. This partnership has laid a foundation and built a culture around grade-level reading that has expanded our capacity to reach students while educating the public on the issue and the long-term impact of not addressing the issue. Together we are supporting a system of public and private programs that utilize best-practices, align outcomes, improve quality and expand outreach to improve reading and prevent the summer slide for all children grades 1-3 in the district. [387 words] Overall Grade-Level Reading For Measurable Progress for low-income children in Overall Grade-Level Reading: Please provide us with responses for the age or grade level at which low-income children have made the most progress(i.e., your best-case example) in any of grades 1, 2, or 3. Please note that you should provide data reflecting your efforts over at least two years within the past five years (i.e., starting with whatever year within the past five years that you consider to be the baseline or beginning year of your local grade-level reading effort). My community has measurable progress in the area of overall grade-level reading to report. Yes No A43. What specific measure are you using to report progress? [50 words] Reading proficiency is measured by the summative assessment named the Iowa Testing Program. This is the designated proficiency tool in the state of Iowa. It is used to measure reading proficiency of 3'' grade students in the Dubuque Community School District Schools. [42 words] A44. For what specific age group, grade or cohort are you reporting data? [50 words] 13 3'' grade students in the Dubuque Community School District represent 94% of 3rd grade students in the community. The District disaggregates data to identify outcomes for low-income students and other groups. [30 words) A45a. What was your baseline number for this age group, grade or cohort? [50 words] 515 students out of 725 total 3'' grade students in the District were proficient in reading in 2014- 15 according to the Iowa Testing Program. [24 words] A45b. What was your percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 71% of students proficient in reading overall; 53% of low-income students were proficient in reading the baseline year (2014-15). [19 words] A46. When was this baseline data collected? Note that your baseline year should not go back any further than the 2011-12 school year. [20 words] 2014-15 school year was the baseline year for measuring reading proficiency. [11 words] A47a What is your most recent number for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 614 students out of 841 total 3'' grade students in the District were proficient in reading in 2015- 16. [18 words] A47b What is your most recent percent for this age group, grade or cohort? [20 words] 73% of students proficient in reading overall; 59% of low-income students were proficient in 2015-16, representing a 10% increase. [19 words] A48. When was your most recent data collected? [20 words] 2015-16 school year is the most recent year for measuring reading proficiency via the Iowa Testing Program. [13 words] A49. What instrument or tool was used to collect this data? [100 words] The Iowa Testing Program (ITP) is the designated proficiency tool in the state of Iowa. These assessments were designed and developed in Iowa and are informed by empirical studies performed on both the national and state level. The Dubuque Community School District has a long history of using the ITP assessment instrument. Our partners are also familiar with ITP an use it as a guiding tool as we work to develop curriculum and programs that allows us to accurately and consistently measure progress over time. [85 words] A50. What was the source of the data? [100 words] The ITP data is reported through a system called Ed Insight; State of Iowa Annual Progress Report for the Dubuque Community School District, the only public school district in Dubuque. The data is disaggregated to reflect progress for low-income students and other groups. The Department of Education in Iowa collects this information from all school districts, testing vendors, and the area education agencies. Once the data is verified it is reported back to the schools on the Ed Insight database. [78 words] 14 A51. Please tell us how the data reported above reflects progress specifically for low-income children in your community. [150 words] Data reported includes outcomes for low-income children in Dubuque. In the baseline year, 53% of low-income students were proficient. In the following year, 59% of low-income students were proficient. This represents a 10% improvement, from the baseline year to the current year. The progress reported is due to the collective impact of many efforts. Specifically AmeriCorps Partners-In-Learning —Provided 9 AmeriCorps members in the five Title-1 schools. Members were trained to work with struggling readers. The program is modeled after the Minnesota Reading Corps model; 96% of students showed improved reading skills based on the standard assessment. Attacking Chronic Absence in Title-1 schools —Targeted resources for interventions in five Title- 1 schools. Focus included, improving data, training staff on best-practice interventions, and updating District attendance policy. Summer Learning Supports—Assisted students/families with enrollment in programs. Nearly two-thirds of the participants in Dubuque's summer learning programs were students from low- income families. [150 words] A52a. Does the data reported above reflect community-wide population-level progress for low-income children in your community? E Yes E No "Community-wide, population-level progress"can be demonstrated in any of the following ways: 1. on the basis of the geographic unit of change or/catchment area you have defined for your grade-level reading initiative: For example, if your initiative is county-wide, your data would reflect progress on a county-wide indicator, 2. on the basis of an entire neighborhood or system in a particular city. For example, you could cite progress for all children in Headstart or children from WIC families. A52b. If yes, please specify how you are defining "community-wide, population-level progress" for your particular community context and grade-level reading effort. For example you may be reporting district- wide data for a particular grade-level population, or you may be reporting data on the grade-level population within a group of Title 1 schools that have been the explicit focus of your local Campaign effort. [150 words] The community-wide progress is for the number and percentage of all 3'' grade students reading proficiently in Dubuque Community Schools, the public school district that serves our community. Data is disaggregated by race, gender and income to ensure reaching the most at- risk students. Dubuque's community-wide Grade Level Reading Campaign has adopted a network strategy. Partners in the Campaign come from every sector— education, government, business, nonprofit, faith, and philanthropy. Partners are aligned around the goal of grade-level reading 15 and a common agenda that includes the focus areas — readiness, attendance, and summer, along with efforts to leverage health, technology, and parent involvement. Disaggregated data is used to inform the work and measure our progress. Leadership from the Greater Dubuque Community Foundation provides backbone support while dozens of partners lead the action to improve programs and policy, creating systems change. Together we are moving the needle on reading achievement. [150 words] A52c. If no, what plans do you have for scaling your success beyond a single school or program site? [500 words} While we are seeing improvement, there are still more than one-third of low-income students and nearly half the students of color are not reading proficiently is unacceptable. We recognize the schools cannot do it alone. By focusing on building a strong network of partners, we have created a culture in the community that is helping us adapt to emerging issues and scale to meet growing needs to support grade-level reading. This collaboration has identified opportunities for us to leverage our resources further and to deepen alignment between school and private program curriculum, strengthen our use and sharing of data to meet performance measures and engage parents and the community. We have some strong examples of programs like St. Mark Youth Enrichment and The Dream Center working closely with Dubuque Community schools to align curriculum and share data. Our plans include ideas for building the capacity of both our schools and programs to collaborate even more, including: - shared training —our schools are sharing staff development opportunities with leaders and staff from preschool, afterschool, and summer program providers. We will expand the number and capacity for this type of shared staff development - shared data —we will make it easier to share data so programs can align their outcomes with schools and both schools and programs can learn what is working - engage parents — often the relationships parents have with programs are more trusting than the relationships parents have with schools. We will leverage program/parent relationships to improve communication, understanding and engagement between parents and schools - engage community— local companies have provided solutions to barriers that impacted programming. One example includes a local construction company volunteering to renovate space at the Dream Center to improve the physical classroom environment for students. We are also participating in the More Hopeful Futures Cohort, supported by the national Campaign. This is helping us expand our efforts to leverage health and technology, and deepen parent engagement to improve our outcomes. Early successes from this effort include replication of Vision to Learn in Dubuque and the Northeast Iowa Region and implementation of Vroom—app technology to support parents of students age 0-5. 16 Vision to Learn a program that provides eye exams and glasses to students, served 178 students last year and is expanding rapidly to serve more than 2000 this year, thanks to donor support and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. A mobile clinic has been purchased to serve Iowa and is providing exams and desperately needed glasses to elementary school students so they can see, and read. Dubuque County Early Childhood and their school readiness partners are launching Vroom in our community. In the coming months, parents throughout the community will be receiving materials and information through multiple channels including learning cafes to help parents or guardians learn how to navigate the app, which brings parenting tips and learning for young children to parents cell phones every day. [477 words] Section B: Destination 31. In view of where you started your grade-level reading journey, where you originally planned to be at this point, and the actual progress you have made and reported in Section A above, how close is your community to achieving what you intended in each solution area (school readiness, school attendance, summer learning, overall grade-level reading)?What have you learned in the process?What has been most successful?Were there strategies that you wish you had NOT pursued? [1000 words max.] Dubuque's CSAP outlined progress in 3 phases beginning in 2013 and identified goals for improvement in each of the solution areas. Organized for Success —The CSAP included developing shared vision, building partnerships, and gathering the data needed to inform decisions. Strong progress has been made through a multi-sector network of partners identified in our CSAP that include education, nonprofits, philanthropy, government and business aligned around the Campaign framework. A shared data platform has been implemented. In the past 18 months, 32 partners were trained on Results Based Accountability and the Clear Impact Scorecard. Collectively the network identified outcomes and use the scorecard to track progress and share data. This is critical to long-term success. A program is most resilient when campaign partners share common goals and are taking aligned/collaborative action in the community. Building Capacity/Supporting Aligned Action — Education for partners and organizations, sharing tools and data, and helping partners take action are key. The strong progress was seen through outcomes in 2014 and 2015 as partners adopted best practices, piloted strategies and shared data and outcomes. Implementing with Fidelity—In 2015 partners began to leverage newfound capacity in the form of best-practices, resources and funding that began to align behind Campaign efforts. Efforts to organize, align and implement build on the collaboration that has been our strength and a key to progress in each focus area. School Readiness: - 12% increase in participation in 4-year old preschool from 81% in 2013-14 to 91% 2015- 16 - 13% increase in QRS participation among childcare centers and homes from 35 to 40 centers 17 improved workforce pathways for childcare/preschool workers and teachers for 102 high school students completing the program. Dubuque Schools and Northeast Iowa Community College partner to enroll high school Juniors and Seniors in dual-credit programs. increased capacity of parent education programming — Parents as Teachers served 305 families and Head Start programs served 78 families last year providing important parenting information to ensure students meet developmental milestones. new advocacy efforts to engage legislators in concerns about quality childcare/preschool with statewide Campaign partners. School Attendance: - chronic absence rates have decreased in Title-1 schools by 10% - partnerships with schools and nonprofit partners — before/after school program partners have aligned with schools to support improved attendance - increase understanding of chronic absence —tools/strategies from Attendance Works have improved use of data and best-practices and is being implemented into statewide data in partnership with the Iowa Department of Education. - adoption of new Dubuque District attendance policies in 2016 to support reduced chronic absence. Summer Learning: - implementation of Summer Academy, a successful summer learning strategy— 78% of students attending maintained or improved reading proficiency. - expand capacity of summer program providers —existing summer programs have incorporated reading into programming and 5 primary summer programs now use of best-practice summer learning efforts; School District Summer Academy serves struggling readers - expanded summer learning programs from one serving 80 students to six serving over 500 students - increase supports for families — Carnegie Stout Public Library, YM/YWCA, Boys Girls Club have expanded reading offerings for families and more programs provide books led by United Way and My Brother's Keeper Grade-Level Reading: A new culture of reading contributed to a 74% increase in reading proficiency to last year. Each year new efforts and partners emerge due to outreach efforts. - Barber Reading Challenge —a Dubuque barber, began to provide a free haircut to students who read him a book. It received national attention inspiring hundreds of barbers to join the effort. - Little Free Libraries — grew from 12 to over 35 locations led by individuals, organizations and an AmeriCorps project, making reading a part of the culture. - Increased access to books for low-income students and early learners thru Reach out and Read at Crescent Community Health Center, the Dolly Parton Library by United Way, and the Bridge to Reading Picture Book Award program by the Carnegie Stout Library. Books are available at annual events like Back-to-School Bash and Kids Expo. Over 19,000 books have been donated to 2,000 young readers ages 0-8. 18 Reading at parks and playgrounds — City of Dubuque Leisure Services incorporated reading curriculum in summer and afterschool programs combined with healthy snacks and meals, these programs expose 300+ students to reading and a healthy meal. Realigning AmeriCorps - the AmeriCorps program focused on grade-level reading by placing 38 members in schools and 17 members in summer programs to support reading interventions like Lexia for struggling. Last year this program helped improve reading scores for 89% of students and attendance for 94% of students. Data sharing between programs and schools — St. Mark and Dream Center track progress of students in summer in nonprofit-led learning programs for summer 2016. Policies that support year-round learning —advocacy efforts with local and statewide partners including the Iowa Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Iowa Youth and Family Policy Center, and Iowa Afterschool Alliance. Partners focus on providing flexibility for school calendars and funding. Key successes and challenges; - organizing a network with a "backbone organization" to facilitate partnerships, identify resources and organize efforts are critical to progress - data— is critical to improve attendance outcomes, to drive partner investment in summer learning and it focused our efforts in school readiness to quality and workforce issues - sustaining the campaign requires a significant time investment— as roles among partners and organizations focus changed, continued investment to coordinate the campaign was needed - Attendance Works is an effective tool for using data and intervening; work will continue to improve - Summer Learning programs work but are challenging to sustain — using best-practice summer learning programs works, finding funding to fund them at scale is challenging. Our overall progress towards our destination is visible in the combined impact of efforts of more than 25+ partners. We have built awareness, participation, and investment. Ensuring students read by 3'' grade has become a milestone in student achievement that is valued and understood in the community. [995 words] 32. Looking ahead, what adjustments to your goals/destination, if any, have you made?What are the greatest challenges you are facing to achieving these goals? [500 words max] We have made adjustments to plans along the way, building on increasing commitments from partners in the network to expanded efforts more quickly in areas like summer learning (Summer Academy), attendance (Attendance Works) or reading (AmeriCorps). Learning about data led to Results Based Accountability and the Clear Impact Scorecard. The focus on these systemic areas impacted our efforts to engage parents. Looking ahead we see our biggest challenges being: 19 moving targets/state requirements have challenged our efforts to have consistent data, have adequate funding for summer learning efforts, slowed attendance efforts, and required the community to backfill or work around gaps in supports for school readiness. stretching the capacity of core providers of key services and/or expanding their capacity to meet the need scaling promising practices balanced against the needs and capacity of nonprofit providers in the community identifying sustainable funding strategies to support promising practices, e.g. summer learning programs and transportation learning authentic engagement strategies to strengthen relationships and participations among parents, especially those in low-income households and neighborhoods To address these challenges we will seek new solutions, expertise, and resources while relying on the strong leadership and strong commitment we have built from leaders beginning at the top. Our Mayor and City Council have made 3'' Grade Reading a priority in their strategic plan for each of the past 5 years. The School District identified 3'' Grade Reading as a priority in its strategic plan. Business organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce support the Campaign, and the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation recently began tracking 3'' Grade Reading as one of its success indicators. In the non-profit sector there is growing alignment. Support among nonprofit leaders at organizations that serve youth and families is growing. The Greater Dubuque Community Foundation is steadfast in its commitment to serve as the backbone organization. Looking ahead new alignment among funders and policy makers will be a key focus to ensure successful summer, readiness, and parent engagement efforts. We will make regular engagement of these groups a greater priority. Identifying tools and expertise to help us learn authentic engagement of parents must happen if we are to connect students and families we have not yet reached. Meanwhile a focus on further alignment of resources will be required to build our capacity to meet the growing need. Deep, long-standing partnerships, a strong shared-commitment in the community, and the support of local policy decision makers in the public and private sector minimize some of the risk of the challenges above. We are optimistic about our ability to succeed. [437 words] Section C: Strategy C1. Please refer to the four Key Strategies for Success in improving school readiness. Which of these (if any) have you successfully implemented? Please check all that apply. F70 Community-wide messaging to raise awareness about the importance of early literacy, social- emotional-cognitive skills, and the health determinants of early school success r Practices, programs, and policies that equip parents, caregivers, and providers with the information, tools, and supports needed to take action on early literacy, social-emotional-cognitive development, and the health determinants of early school success 20 FV Universal screening and ongoing assessments that focus on early identification and treatment of developmental delays, vision and hearing impairments, and other physical and behavioral health challenges. W Cross-sector coordination and partnerships that result in shared ownership for supporting parent success and joint accountability for making measurable progress on student outcomes. C2. Please refer to the four Key Strategies for Success in improving school attendance. Which of these (if any) have you successfully implemented? Please check all that apply. r Community-wide messaging to raise awareness about the importance of good attendance and helping families understand how easily absences can add up and impede learning W Practices, programs, and policies that support the development of early warning and rapid response systems to prevent and reduce chronic absenteeism and address systemic barriers to good attendance FV Use of data on chronic absenteeism to identify and ameliorate health barriers (e.g. asthma, tooth decay) to good attendance W Cross-sector coordination and partnerships that result in shared ownership for improving attendance and joint accountability for making measurable progress on student outcomes C3. Please refer to the four Key Strategies for Success in improving summer learning. Which of these (if any) have you successfully implemented? Please check all that apply. r Community-wide messaging to raise awareness about the importance of summer learning to encourage parents, caregivers and community leaders to take advantage of existing programs and services, and to support families in reading to and with children over the summer months. r Practices, programs and policies that expand access to books and integrate literacy skills development in order to help children continue reading and learning over the summer months. W Expanding access to summer meals, physical activity, and health and nutrition information in a variety of settings and programs over the summer months r Cross-sector coordination and partnerships around data sharing, collection and analysis that result in joint commitment and accountability for making measurable progress on student outcomes. C4. Please refer to the nine strategies for supporting parent success listed on the infographic. r School Readiness-Engage in nurturing and affirming "back and forth" interactions r School Readiness-Enrich their children's vocabulary and promote a love for reading library FV School Readiness-Track and assess progress toward early developmental milestones r Attendance-Recognize and address health needs and environmental hazards in the home F Attendance-Seek intervention and support at the earliest signs of attendance issues F Attendance-Establish an expectation and a plan for daily school attendance, even when families move FV Summer-Engage children in enriching summer activities at home or in the community 21 F_ Summer-Encourage, support and model healthy eating and fitness r Summer-Use technology to facilitate ongoing learning, especially during the summer months C5. Please refer to the health determinants of early school success listed on the infographic. Which of these (if any) have you successfully implemented? Please check all that apply. FV School readiness-Screenings catch developmental, hearing and vision problems before they interfere with learning r School readiness-Social and emotional development builds curiosity and supports learning r School readiness-Prenatal care supports early brain development FV Attendance-Managing children's asthma helps them reduce absences P0 Attendance-Breakfast in the classroom improves attendance and learning r Attendance-Regular dental care prevents lost learning time r Summer Learning-Summer food programs keep kids healthy when school is out FV Summer Learning-Physical activity helps children pay attention and learning C6. Which of the strategies you checked in C1-05 above have been most successful in your community? Why? [500 words max.] The Dubuque Campaign's strength and most successful strategy is cross-sector collaboration and the partnerships (network) that result in shared ownership for supporting each of the solution areas. Our collaborative network of partners made it possible to leverage a number of successful strategies: - Parents as Teachers (PAT) and Head Start, supported by Dubuque County Early Childhood equip parents and providers with information, tools, and supports needed to take action — more than 400 PAT low-income families are served by these programs - The Statewide Voluntary 4-year old preschool program provides access to quality preschool for every 4-year old student through a network of public and private providers. Approximately 91% of 4 year olds participate. - Data tools from Attendance Works help schools see the impact of health barriers on attendance through a grant that engages school nurses, resulting in 48 referrals made to healthcare providers - Best-practices implemented by the Dubuque Community Schools establish expectations and aid early warning and response systems to reduce chronic absence, especially when they are reinforced by out-of-school time providers like the YM/YWCA, St. Mark Youth Enrichment, Dream Center, and city programming. Chronic absence down 10%. - Vision to Learn served 178 students in Dubuque and is expanding to serve more than 2000 students Eastern Iowa this year. - Expanded access to books through programs like Raising a Reader, Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and First Book have dramatically expanded access to books — more than 19,000 books distributed last year alone. 22 Summer learning programs have expanded working to scale them to serve all of the students who need an intensive reading instruction. 500+ students served last summer in 5 core programs for grades K-3. Meal programs build attendance and participation during the school year through in- school attendance breakfast programs, snacks and evening meals during out-of-school time programs. During the summer more than 13,000 meals are served to engage students in programs within our parks, summer programs and nonprofits like the Boys/Girls Club, YM/YWCA and Dream Center. Together these examples of the most effective strategies have transformed the way we approach school readiness, school attendance, and summer learning. We also strive to create shared outcomes among the network as well as shared ownership of challenges. The high level of collaboration among a diverse network of partners helps us use resources efficiently, align action without duplication, and measure progress through shared data. This is the backbone tour success. Lastly, as a network we understand the concept of shared accountability. We hold each other accountable and keep all network partners informed about our progress, issues, and challenges. This transparency in process increases the confidence among stakeholders and funders to support our work. (443 words) Section C: Strategy, Continued The following is a list of proven and promising programs, tools, and supports that meet the following criteria. Items on the list. 1. align with GLR priorities and solutions areas and will strengthen local plans and capacity, 2. are actionable immediately by local coalitions and are potentially scalable across the Network, and 3. are responsive to community context and demand. Please note: If you are applying for an All-America City Award or Pacesetter Honors, there is no direct correlation between the number of points awarded for this section and the number or types of programs you identify below as being in use in your community. C7a. Which of the following proven and promising school readiness programs, tools, and supports are affiliated with your grade-level reading effort in your community and/or are being implemented in your community? Select all that apply. F ABCD (Assuring Better Child Health and Development) r ABCmouse.com F Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors F Avance F%O Born Learning Trails F Brazelton Touchpoints F Early Learning Ventures 23 Green and Healthy Homes Initiative First Book Help Me Grow Home visiting programs, such as Nurse-Family Partnership, Parents as Teachers, and HIPPY Imagination Library Incredible Years Jumpstart LENA Locally-developed book distribution program(s). (Other than First Book, Imagination Library, Reach Out& Read, etc.) Mind in the Making National Black Child Development Institute Parenting Program Nemours Bright Start Parenting Journey PBS Parents Play and Learn Groups P I aywo rks Raising A Reader Ready Rosie Reach Out& Read Scholastic programs or products, such as Family Engagement resources (for school districts), or promoting the website to parents to access tools and resources, etc. Sesame Street tools and resources Talk, Read, Sing Text4 ba by Texting programs to reach parents, such as Ready4K!, Bright by Text, GA Ready4K!, etc. Too Small to Fail Triple P-Positive Parenting Program Vroom Other 24 C71b. Which of the following proven and promising school attendance programs, tools, and supports are affiliated with your grade-level reading effort in your community and/or are being implemented in your community? Select all that apply. r Messaging and Engagement--Attendance Works Messa in Materials e. Attendance Awareness 9 9Messaging ( 9 , Month, Tools for Working With Parents, Tools For Attendance Messaging) F Messaging and Engagement--Student Social Support Research and Development Fund (Professor Todd Rogers at Harvard University) Wo Messaging and En a ement--Textin /communications apps to engage parents about chronic absence (Please list.) We have buildings that regularly do this FV Personalized Early Interventions--National Parent Teacher Home Visiting Project We do this PAT— Amy Kallaher W Personalized Early Interventions--Success Mentor initiatives (MBK or home grown) Anderson does this and also Robert Kimble is very involved in this F Personalized Early Interventions--Other (please list) fJ Reducing Health Related Absences--Green and Healthy Homes We have some data on this but I think lost our capacity to track in the last round of budget cuts F Reducing Health Related Absences--Asthma related initiatives (please list) F Reducing Health Related Absences--Teledental programs (please list) r Data--Attendance Works DATT/SATT F Data--Other F Capacity-Building Supports--Superintendents Call To Action F Capacity-Building Supports--Children's Aid Society–National Center for Community Schools F Capacity-Building Supports--Coalition for Community Schools C7c. Which of the following proven and promising summer learning programs, tools, and supports are affiliated with your grade-level reading effort in your community and/or are being implemented in your community? Select all that apply. F AARP-Experience Corps F BELL F Horizons W National Summer Learning Association resources for parents NOTE: For summer 2016 St. Mark provided all parents information from NSLA for Summer Learning Day. It was the top 10 summer learning tips.We also sent out invitations for parents to attend program 25 on summer learning day F Passport to Success or other similar efforts FV Other—we have adapted strategies NSLA and a successful strategy in Council Bluffs, IA to implement Summer Academy and local best-practice summer learning programs. C7d. Which of the following proven and promising overall grade-level reading or cross-cutting efforts, tools, and supports are affiliated with your grade-level reading effort in your community and/or are being implemented in your community?Select all that apply. F ACE Readers FV Breakfast in the Classroom F Children's Literacy Initiative F Children's Health Fund F Girls, Inc. r Minnesota Reading Corps We have Iowa Reading Corps at Sageville F myOn F Parent Leadership Training Institute F Parents for Public Schools F Reading Partners F Reading Recovery F Save the Children F Start Making A Reader Today (SMART) F Success for All F10 Vision to Learn r Y Readers Dubuque YM/YWCA FV Other AmeriCorps Partners in Learning C7f. If you checked any of the above proven and promising programs, tools, and supports: Are you planning to expand your use of any of the above in your community? If Yes, please provide the name and a brief narrative description of each. [600 words max.] Proven and promising programs, tools and supports affiliated with the Campaign has been another key takeaway that took us down many successful paths. Plans to expand those while exploring more are in the works. Highlights include: Promising Readiness Strategies - Home visiting programs provide family support, parent education to children and families through home visits, groups, screenings and resource networking. Parents as Teachers 26 is planning to expand by partnering with the library to offer groups to promote child development and parent engagement. Green and Healthy Homes Initiative —the City of Dubuque used GHHI strategies to serve approximately 180 low income families who were connected to services to support health and social needs through a home advocate. The program is being expanded to serve 320 more low-income families / homes in Dubuque's most vulnerable neighborhood with support from a HUD Resiliency Grant. Vroom launched by the Dubuque County Early Childhood to expand engagement and tools available to parents in the community. First Book distributed books through nonprofit programs and events. We are exploring the use of the program to get books in a more focused way to low-income families through additional partnerships and expansion of Reach Out and Read through partners in the medical community. Promising Attendance Strategies - Messaging and engagement including texting and materials from Attendance Works are in use in our schools and nonprofit partners to engage parents and students about chronic absence —we plan to expand these practices to more schools and programs to build awareness. - Implemented data strategies and best-practices in all of Dubuque's Title-1 elementary schools through Attendance Works. Expanding implementation of the data tools district- wide and working with the State of Iowa to use them statewide is the next expansion effort. Promising Summer Strategies - National Summer Learning Association —we have supported adoption of NSLA best- practice promoted by summer learning programs and partners. - Other—Dubuque's Summer Academy replicated successful strategies from Council Bluffs, IA to build upon a successful local pilot. The Academy will continue to be scaled- up with more best practices to meet the need for summer learning programming in the community. Promising grade-level reading or cross-cutting efforts - AmeriCorps - 38 AmeriCorps members serve in 13 elementary schools within the Dubuque Community School District. They provide reading interventions modeled after the Minnesota Reading Corps to 550-600 low-income students 3 times per week. 89% of the students' improved reading proficiency and 94% showed improved attendance. Additionally, AmeriCorps members serve students in the summer in neighborhood parks, the Library, at nonprofit programs St. Mark's Youth Enrichment and the Dream Center to provide reading interventions for summer programming. The plan is to expand the AmeriCorps team to add 12 members to serve the Summer Academy. - Vision To Learn — in 2016 the Community Foundation and Vision To Learn served five Titled schools Dubuque. Nearly 180 students were examined on the mobile clinic; 91 received prescriptions for glasses; 18 were referred for further vision care. Each student prescription was filled with 2-free pairs of glasses - one for school and one for home. In 2017, Vision To Learn will expand to serve all 13 elementary schools in Dubuque as well as 45 schools in 7 Eastern Iowa counties. 27 These programs and corresponding partners were identified for expansion based on a number of factors including having a shared population we need to reach, having an organization vision/mission that aligns with the goals of our CSAP, are an existing partner in other ventures that have been successful and/or are committed to the long-term goal of grade level reading and understand its impact. [598 words] C8a. To what extent is your local grade-level reading effort placing a priority on providing supports, services, and/or interventions for children and families served by public housing, Section 8, and/or other types of housing assistance programs for low-income families? Not applicable./We don't do this. We talk about it but haven't taken action. E We're working on it and we've taken steps to do this. Please describe. We have several good examples. Please describe. We have many great examples. Please describe. C81b. Please elaborate on your answer above, if applicable. The City of Dubuque Housing and Community Development Department's, Family Self- Sufficiency program (FSS) successfully engaged in the Campaign. The FSS program stabilizes families, an important factor for student success. Through this holistic approach, FSS caseworkers connect families to programming supports such as Parents as Teachers, Summer Academy and summer reading programs at the Carnegie Stout Library. They also identify mentors for families through other housing programs. [67 words] C9a. To what extent is your local grade-level reading effort using technology (high-tech programs) such as phone apps, text messaging, on-line learning programs, etc., to reach, engage, and support children and families? Not applicable./We don't do this. We talk about it but haven't taken action. We're working on it and we've taken steps to do this. Please describe. E We have several good examples. Please describe. Phone apps, Lexia, Vroom, and WRITE BRAIN (Head Start thing too??) L: We have many great examples. Please describe. C91b. Please elaborate on your answer above, if applicable. Dubuque's Campaign partners have embraced technology as a key strategy to reach, engage, and support students and their families. Apps and text messaging support attendance and parent engagement, Lexia provides reading supports and WRITE BRAIN and more are helping to improve reading skills. 28 The Vroom app and website provides parents with ways to boost early learning by making meal time, bath time and things like trips to the grocery store into brain building moments. Vroom pushes easy to do brain building activities to parents of children age birth to 5. Early Childhood of Dubuque County launched Vroom with a network of providers to make it available to all parents in our community, with specific focus to low-income families served by the many agencies. Head Start uses the IStartSmart tablets by Hatch Early Learning in their Head Start classrooms. The IStartSmart tablets include playful tablet games and education software that assist children in building literacy skills. Each child's progress is automatically monitored through the Hatch system and is synced with the child's Teaching Strategies GOLD data used to measure kindergarten readiness skills. Dual language learner settings are being used to improve outcomes for our students learning English. Electronic messaging is used by principals in Title-1 schools to contact parents with students who are struggling with attendance. For example, one Principal worked with a group of parents whose children had at-risk attendance to create a strategy for using electronic messaging to provide supports. The principal set an electronic phone call on School Messenger to the parents every school day. The phone rings at home an hour before children need to be at school so that parents get up and get their children up on time for school. Principals also use texting and Facebook to engage parents and support with tips and attendance reminders. Lexia Reading Cores is an adaptive, technology based literacy program for students of all abilities. All students in Dubuque Community School District have a Lexia Reading Cores account, which provides personalized, systematic, structured approach in the following reading areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Lexia is being used in the classrooms, before school programs, after school programs and in summer programs at YM/YWCA, St. Mark Youth Enrichment, Dream Center and Summer Academy and with AmeriCorps members in the schools during school hours. WRITE BRAIN is helping students in St. Mark Youth Enrichment's before and after school programs collaborate in groups to write and donate a co-authored book. Each student writes independently, receiving professionally printed/bound copies of their self-authored books. Students utilize technology to practice keyboarding skills and improve reading and social skills. Technology is now used in summer park playground programs. As a direct result of the Campaign, the City's traditional playground program was evaluated and restructured to better serve the needs of the low-income community. Through the introduction of E-Readers, over 200 children in the community's low-income areas are exposed to technology and literature on a daily basis in the City's free summer playground program. The program continues to introduce learning opportunities into this fun summer learning activitiy to include STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Music) themed weeks with activities based on related literature. 29 Recognizing that not all families have access to an abundance of technology tools, partnerships exist at the Library, SMCC, Multicultural Family Center, Prescott Neighborhood Resource Center (other venues) that help connect parents and students to technology including PCs and laptops. Together, these partners increase access to the information highway to ensure this is less of barrier in Dubuque. [587 words] C10a. To what extent are these "high-tech" programs being combined with "high-touch" efforts, such as home visiting, Reach Out and Read, peer group supports, etc.? Not applicable./We don't do this. We talk about it but haven't taken action. We're working on it and we've taken steps to do this. Please describe. E We have several good examples. Please describe. E We have many great examples. Please describe. C10b. Please elaborate on your answer above, if applicable. [500 words] Parents as Teachers, uses a Telehealth system to deliver medical care, health education, and public health services by connecting multiple users in separate locations. This has enhanced services such as assessment, monitoring, communications, prevention and education. It includes video conferencing and allows for real time, face-to-face interaction with trained professionals, family members, or consultants outside of our region. Families have used this system to access their health provider at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for consultation. This saves the family transportation costs and time and yet provides high touch interaction. To streamline operations and improve assessments, Parents as Teachers workers are equipped with iPads for use on home visits. This speeds access to resources and assessments. Workers also use iPads to take photos of a child's work which then can be shared with their teacher for documentation required for the GOLD assessment. Dubuque's experience with AmeriCorps and non-profit program staff proves that relationships matter when working with at-risk students or struggling readers. The one-on-one relationships build trust and confidence. Adding technology to the mix has proven to make training easier and the instruction more consistent. Together high-touch interventions combined with technology are proving to be effective in-school and out-of-school. Students see improvement in reading skills, attendance, confidence, and social-emotional skills. Lexia high tech is combined with high touch one-on-one time with trained AmeriCorps members in the Dubuque Community Schools and in after school programs at the Dream Center, St. Mark Youth Enrichment, and the YMCA/YWCA. Lexia Reading Cores is an adaptive, technology- based literacy program for students of all abilities. All students in the School District have an account which provides personalized, systematic, structured approach in the following reading areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary and 30 comprehension. Lexia is a powerful tool used by the classroom teachers, interventionist and it aligns with Iowa's Common Core standards. AmeriCorps members and program staff are trained by Dubuque Community School District staff on Lexia, Lexia interventions and Lexia's capabilities. Lexia's research-proven program targets skill gaps as they emerge and provides data and student-specific interventions. Lexia also provides Lexia Lessons that are scripted materials which allow AmeriCorps to provide explicit, multi-sensory instruction in a specific skill area for the student. AmeriCorps members worked as Academic Reading Tutors for K-3'' Students who were considered struggling readers. In 2014-2015, 26 AmeriCorps members tutored 1,041 K-3'' students, 544 K-3'' students worked with AmeriCorps members 30 times or more and 67% or 362 improve their reading score from fall 2015-spring 2016. In 2015-2016, 38 AmeriCorps members tutored 1,431 K-3'' students, 468 K-3'' students worked with AmeriCorps members 30 times or more and 89% or 416 improved their reading score from fall 2015-spring 2016. The high tech, high touch is working. It is also scalable and is a model that can be applied across other systems. Through this experience we have identified the use of the high tech, high touch model as a way to reach marginalized populations in other communities' issues such as health care or disaster planning. [498 words] Section D: Data Driving with data to establish baselines, set targets, track progress, disaggregate for subgroups, and ensure accountability. D1. To what extent does your coalition gather and monitor data regularly and use it actively to guide implementation and track progress? A great deal Somewhat Very little Not at all D2. Are you using disaggregated data on the basis of family income or socio-economic status to track the effects of your local efforts on low-income children? C Yes C No Dia. Our local school district or districts shares data with our grade-level reading coalition. C A great deal C Somewhat 31 Very little Not at all Dab. Our local school district or districts share disaggregated data with our coalition--i.e., data that is disaggregated on the basis of any of the following: race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (free and reduced-price lunch), or special learning needs, etc. C Yes C No D4a. Do you have a formal data-sharing agreement with your local school district or districts? E Yes C No D5a. What data platform or system technology is your local grade-level reading coalition using to collect and aggregate data from partner organizations and other sources in order to identify gaps, track/monitor progress, and develop strategies?Check all that apply. r Clear Impact Scorecard (formerly Results Scorecard) F NFocus F Social Solutions ETO r School district data system P State-developed data system. (Please describe.) F University-based data system (Please describe.) F Human Services/Social services (Please describe.) F Public health data system (Please describe.) F Other (Please describe.) F We are not currently using a special or dedicated data platform or system technology to collect and aggregate data for our coalition to use. D7. To what extent does your local grade-level reading coalition share relevant data with parents and the community about key progress indicators and measures?Select one. C A great deal C Somewhat C Very little C Not at all Section E: Connecting for Synergy 32 E1. Have you identified and affiliated with one or more of the following change initiatives listed in E2a? C Yes C No E2a. If yes, please check all that apply. F_ Promise Neighborhoods r Ready by 21 F_ Community Schools F_ Strive r United Way FV Educational improvement or reform initiatives—e.g., school improvement, PBIS (positive behavior intervention supports), RTI (Response to Intervention), etc. r EC-Link City or Community Planning Efforts -Your City's Strategic Plan, Youth Master Plan or other plans concerning kids F_ Other (Please describe below.) E4a. We have increased the overall number of stakeholders engaged in our local grade-level reading effort over the past year. C No, we have not increased the number the stakeholders engaged in our effort. C We've talked about it but haven't taken action. C We're working on it–we've taken steps to increase the number of stakeholders engaged. C We have increased the number of stakeholders engaged. C We have greatly increased the number of stakeholders engaged. E41b. Please indicate approximately how many stakeholders were added during the 2016 calendar year and describe your efforts that led to the increased overall number of stakeholders engaged. [500 words] Dubuque's network of partners continues to expand and build partnerships within the network to deepen our ability to engage and/or expand reading efforts with more children and specifically low-income and those not proficient. It also opens the doors to attract more financial resources as well as books and implement new efforts. Our original 22 partners included key organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 1,300 business community members, Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, which represents over 250 industrial businesses and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, which represents over 230 local, philanthropic interests. These key partners, along with the DCSD, the city of Dubuque and smaller non-profits whose mission is focused on children and families recognized early on the importance of grade level reading and its impact on the future workforce, a workforce that is critical for local companies and a community's survival. 33 By continuing to engage these partners our Dubuque's network has grown from 22 initial partners to 29. In 2016 4 new partners added including the Dream Center, My Brother's Keeper Initiative, The Black Men's Coalition, and McDonough Foundation. My Brother's Keeper chose the Campaign to focus on serving students of color and low-income families in this community. This led to connections with The Dream Center, an afterschool "safe place" located in a former school in one of our lowest income census tracts, and The Black Men's Coalition a core partner with the Multicultural Family Center located across from one of our at-risk elementary schools. These partners provided us an opportunity for us to not only expand program to additional locations, one of our programming goals, but to also expand our recruitment effort—another programming goal. New funder partnerships are also an important focus. The McDonough Foundation and Alliant Foundation both joined the effort to support Summer Academy in 2016. Recruitment efforts to expand our network in 2017 are already underway. [315 words] E5a. We have increased the diversity (ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, age, sexual orientation, gender expression, people with disabilities, and others whose voices have been unheard in the past) of the stakeholder groups engaged over the past year to ensure that all aspects of the community's diversity have robust involvement and leadership in defining goals, creating plans and implementing action steps. We have not done this. We've talked about it but haven't taken action to increase the diversity of the stakeholder groups. We're working on it—we've taken steps to increase diversity. E We have increased diversity of stakeholders engaged. L: We have greatly increased the diversity of stakeholders engaged. E6a. We have invested time and resources over the past year for joint learning, aligning values, and setting mutual targets and goals across systems and sectors in our community. E Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Ela. Over the past year we have increased or strengthened collaboration across institutional sectors (business, nonprofit, library, government, K-12 education, higher education, social service, health, faith, philanthropic, neighborhood/civic groups) in our community. Strongly Agree Agree 34 Disagree Strongly Disagree E8a. Have you mobilized volunteers to support the goals of your local grade-level reading effort? We don't do this. We talk about it but haven't taken action to do this. We're working on it—we've taken steps to do this. (Please describe.) E We have several good examples. (Please describe.) L: We have many great examples. (Please describe.) AmeriCorps Partners in Learning members work in the schools and also volunteer in the community. Members were present at community events staffing reading booths throughout the summers. This strengthened relationships with children and families and put more reading into the summer. E9a. If you have mobilized volunteers, approximately how many did you mobilize during the 2016 calendar year? Enter numbers only. Share any numbers you are aware of with me please and say what program. AmeriCorps Partners in Learning 38 Summer Academy Volunteers 43 GLR Committee Volunteers 23 E91b. If you have mobilized volunteers, approximately how many volunteer hours (total) did your volunteers contribute during the 2016 calendar year? Enter numbers only. Share any numbers you are aware of with me please and say what program. AmeriCorps Partners in Learning Volunteers 23,100 hours Summer Academy Volunteers 2,700 hours GLR Committee Hours 690 El Oa. Stakeholders address challenges proactively, facing issues head on, rather than ignoring them or blaming others. We don't have this. We talk about it but haven't taken action to do this. We're working on it—we've taken steps to do this. (Please describe.) E We have several good examples. (Please describe.) E We have many great examples. (Please describe.) Our community has collaborated to address a number of challenges right from the beginning. Early on the schools were still learning how the community could play an effective role to impact 35 grade-level reading and there were skeptics within the organization that limited early involvement. This required a shift in thinking and a change in the culture of how to approach education outside of the classroom. We knew we needed to remove long-standing silos. Dubuque Campaign partners were able to use data to identify opportunities and research from the Grade Level Reading Campaign to show how strong efforts supporting summer learning, reinforcing the importance of school attendance, and enhancing school readiness could provide needed support to the School District while not interfering with what the school district can do best —teach reading. Our goal in this early stage of collaboration was about open communication and transparency. As trust began to develop ways were researched to expand the capacity for summer learning in the community. A balance was struck between the needs of existing summer providers and supporting their capacity and learning, while developing new capacity in the school district where there was the greatest opportunity for scaling up the number of children served. Partners worked together, struggled together but ultimately kept the needs of kids first and found ways to align summer learning efforts. We could do this because we took the time to build trust. Then we took the time to outline a shared vision and aligned action steps. Today there is a strong network of summer learning programs that offer choice to families among quality programs that get results. Finally, the local network works together to adapt to ever-changing state requirements including a new retention law, reductions in school funding, and changes to funding rules for preschool and childcare providers. The strong local partnerships developed in the Campaign have allowed us to speak with one voice to these issues as we work to ensure students are impacted positively. [327 words] El la. We are working with other communities in our state or region in our grade-level reading efforts. Not applicable. We don't do this. We talk about it but haven't taken action to do this. We're working on it—we've taken steps to do this. (Please describe.) We have several good examples. (Please describe.) E We have many great examples. (Please describe.) In addition to supporting the Dubuque Campaign, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque has supported expansion into two rural communities, Dyersville, Iowa and Jackson County, Iowa. Through a partnership with an anonymous donor, the Community Foundation worked with these two communities to hire a coordinator, develop a CSAP, and implement early efforts in each community. 36 The Dubuque Campaign is a leader in State of Iowa Campaign efforts. Partners are often engaged by other communities in Iowa for ideas and support. We have supported early planning efforts and the launch of campaigns in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Grinnell, Iowa, as well as Watertown, Wisconsin. In addition to being a resource for Iowa communities, the Dubuque Campaign is an active partner in the Iowa Campaign. On behalf of the Dubuque Campaign, Community Foundation staff have supported the engagement of the Iowa Council of Foundations and the Education Funders Group. This has led to expanded funding of the Iowa Campaign Coordinator as well as funding for statewide technical assistance including trainings from Attendance Works, Results Based Accountability Training and support, and Lectio training. Numerous funders have engaged in partnerships in specific communities as well. The Dubuque Campaign has also participated in statewide advocacy efforts related to Grade- Level Reading. These efforts have put grade-level reading on the map in Iowa and the Governor has made grade-level reading proficiency a policy priority. Finally, the Dubuque Campaign is helping to lead the effort to develop a CSAP for the Iowa Campaign. Over the past year, Dubuque has taken part in statewide convenings and provided leadership for the planning and development of the statewide CSAP, targeted for completion this summer. E12. Please describe briefly the most effective strategies you have used to engage funders in your local grade-level reading effort over the past year. [600 words] The Dubuque Campaign has funding relationships that support the coordination and backbone support for the Campaign (and the now expanded rural efforts). Leveraging relationships and development practices of the Community Foundation has proved to be effective for sustaining needed funds that support this role. Funding for activities of the Campaign, such as implementing strategies or implementing shared data efforts are funded through various partnerships among partners in the campaign —funders and non-funders. One example is the City of Dubuque which has established funding for programs in the Campaign such as Summer Academy and also leads and funds the AmeriCorps Partners in Learning program with cash match and in-kind funding and coordination support and funding from the Dubuque Community Schools. This is a good example of two partners collaborating on both the program and funding aspects of a Campaign strategy. Local foundations are active in the Dubuque Campaign, frequently funding programs and practices led by partners and partnerships like Summer Academy. Local funders include corporate funding, private and family foundations, the United Way, the Dubuque Racing Association, a nonprofit casino, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque and individual philanthropy. 37 We have also engaged funders though the Community Foundation's participation in the Iowa Council of Foundations Education Funders Group. While not a formal funders collaborative, this group has intentionally aligned funding in the state around grade-level reading activities. This has resulted in funding for the local campaign related efforts of many Campaign partners and shared strategies like Summer Academy and Results Based Accountability training. Dubuque's Community Foundation continues to work to engage funders locally, regionally, and nationally to fund Campaign coordination, activities and partner's efforts that align with the campaign. (277 words) E13. Are you working to build a funder coalition committed to achieving the goals of your local grade-level reading effort? (Click here for more information on funder coalitions.) C Yes C No E15. Which, if any, of the following opportunities for messaging and mobilizing did you incorporate into your local grade-level reading effort in 2016?Select all that apply. r Summer Learning Day r Superintendents' Call to Action/Attendance Awareness Month Vo Read Across America Day F- National Volunteer Week F- Read Aloud 15 Minutes r Other (Please describe.) E16. If you checked one or more of the opportunities for messaging and mobilizing above, please tell us briefly how you incorporated the opportunity into your local work and how it helped you make progress. If you checked "Other" above, please elaborate. [500 words] Campaign partners are active in three key messaging and mobilization opportunities— National Summer Learning Day, Superintendents Call to Action /Attendance Awareness Month, and Read Across America Day. Each year, Dubuque uses these dates to highlight local campaign efforts and to build awareness of summer learning, school attendance and chronic absence, and grade-level reading. National Summer Learning Day has been an opportunity to publish op-eds, blogs, social media, and to host site visits for stakeholders, funders and community leaders. This has proven valuable to engage partners in the summer learning work done by individual partners and in collaborations. It has also been an opportunity to engage legislators in advocacy efforts related to summer learning including inviting legislators to site visits at summer learning programs and a "day on the hill" where we visited legislators at the state capital. Individual partners also host their own activities — in 2016 St. Mark Youth Enrichment provided all parents information from 38 NSLA for Summer Learning Day. It was the top 10 summer learning tips and hosting programming for parents. Attendance Awareness Month has continued to build broader awareness of the campaign and the importance of school attendance among students, parents, and the broader community. Messaging activities have included billboards, attendance messages in classrooms in all schools, attendance incentives during the month of September, and messaging to parents. In addition, op-eds, blogs, social media and posting of activities on the Attendance Works website are all effective efforts. Local media (TV, radio, newspapers) have been successfully engaged in reporting on chronic absence efforts and outcomes. Dubuque schools and AmeriCorps members support messaging and incentives like attendance parties and prizes for students during the entire month of September. Read Across America Day has been used to call attention to grade-level reading as a challenge facing the community and a critical milestone for our community's young people. Fun activities are used centered around the birthday of Dr. Seuss to highlight the importance of reading, ways for everyone to be engaged. Local media has been successfully engaged through press releases and op-eds and utilized blogs, social media and the web to support messaging. Dubuque's Head Start program hosted local celebrity readers (and the Cat in the Hat) in eight Head Start classrooms in Dubuque. [365 words] Section F: Success and Sustainability What aspects of your community's work do you believe others would most benefit from learning about? You are invited here to describe your exemplary work in pioneering innovation, raising the bar, or overcoming particular barriers to success, scale, and sustainability. Please insert your narrative in the spaces provided in F1-F6. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are applying for a 2017 All-America City Award, you may be awarded bonus points for your plan for sustainability, as evidenced by your response to item #F1 and as many of the remaining elements (#F2 - F6) of the framework for success, scale, and sustainability below. Please note that in order to receive bonus points for your All-America City Award application, you must respond at a minimum to #F1. If you are applying for 2016 Pacesetter Honors as an official member of the Campaign for Grade- Level Reading Network, you may provide responses to at least one of the six elements of the Campaign's framework for success, scale, and sustainability (below). Please recall, however, that responding to this question represents one of two possible ways that you may receive Pacesetter recognition. You may be recognized as a 2016 Pacesetter EITHER by demonstrating population-level, community-wide measurable progress for low-income children on at least one of the community solutions areas over the past five years, AND/OR by demonstrating exemplary work in one or more aspects of the Campaign's framework for success, scale and sustainability below. F1. Aligning, linking, stacking, and bundling the most proven and promising strategies, programs, and practices [750 words] 39 Alignment of goals, strategies and funding has helped us to change the way Dubuque approaches summer learning, supports school readiness and engages with data. Dubuque's summer learning strategy stacks two aligned approaches. Approach 1: support provider program capacity. The goal of this approach is to build capacity and increase implementation of best practice among summer learning program providers to expand the quality and quantity of summer learning programming available. Approach 2: build capacity to serve the most at-risk readers through a scalable, intensive reading program that meets the needs of children and families in partnership with the schools and community. Approach 1 includes alignment of provider-led programs like St. Marks Youth Enrichment Center, Dubuque Community YM/YWCA, the Dream Center, city summer park playground programs and the Carnegie Stout Public Library with best-practice to ensure more students have high-quality summer learning opportunities. These programs link with each other to share training resources and support referrals to help families connect with needed services. For example, many students attend the St. Mark's program in the morning and a partner program in the afternoon. Then, the partners bundle AmeriCorps members (high-touch) and technology (high-tech) like Lexia with these programs along with curriculums that align with school district objectives. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dubuque supports summer meal programs at many of the programs shown above to provide breakfast, lunch and snacks. Approach 2 bundles the many skills and resources possessed by the Dubuque Community School District are used where needed to ensure all students can access intensive reading during the summer into Summer Academy. Summer Academy bundles a morning curriculum, certified teaching, and special supports of the School District designed to meet the needs of all students, with afternoon enrichment activities provided by local partners that includes STEAM, fitness, and field trip experiences. Wrap around supports like breakfast and meal programs, transportation and extended care combine to make the program work for working families. Alignment among partners and bundling the most proven and promising strategies is driven by strong collaboration and the use of data to drive decisions and measure progress for Dubuque's school readiness initiative. To support alignment among school readiness partners, Dubuque County Early Childhood convenes school readiness partners regularly. The group leverages resources and best-practice to align parent engagement efforts (e.g. Parents as Teachers and other home visiting programs), quality preschool and childcare strategies (e.g. Statewide Free 4-year old Preschool, Head Start, and QRS), and early learning strategies (e.g. Born Learning, Vroom, and Visiting Nurses). This level of alignment and stacking of strategies results in children being ready for school and more prepared with skills to learn. To inform our work and measure progress, nine partners in the Dubuque Campaign have aligned around a set of six shared indicators of progress including — % reading at grade-level, % students ready for school, % students attending preschool, % students experiencing summer slide, and total investment in the Campaign. Each partner takes part in individual or collaborative programs and practices that reinforce the shared agenda. Campaign partners 40 have a shared data platform (Clear Impact Scorecard) and track reading proficiency, chronic absence, school readiness, summer learning outcomes. They measure and share data for programs that contribute to these indicators like summer learning participation, preschool attendance, and AmeriCorps program performance measures. F2. Integrating efforts to support parent success and address the health determinants of early school success. [750 words] Dubuque integrates efforts to support parent success and address improved health in children by leveraging an effective network of agencies to support child health. Collaboration facilitated by Dubuque County Early Childhood, Dubuque Community Schools, and the Visiting Nurses Association supports coordination of educational and health efforts for children and families. Partnering agencies include: Crescent Community Health Center, child health specialty clinics, Visiting Nurses' Association, Parents as Teachers, Dubuque Community Schools, private sector pediatricians, Dubuque County Early Childhood, Hillcrest Family Services, Crossroads Community Center, WIC, and Iowa Department of Human Services. In the past year, the group collaborated with local dentists to improve access to dental care. The Visiting Nurses' Association (VNA) trained preschool teachers to teach children to brush their teeth at school. Parents were invited to take part and materials were shared with parent. The VNA secured needed supplies from local dentists. These nurses worked with the Dubuque Community School District's Early Childhood Coordinator and Health Services Coordinator to schedule school visits and support teachers. Mission of Mercy, a free two day long dental clinic was held in Dubuque in 2016 with many children as well as their families seen for their first visit to the dentist and dental work performed as needed. Dental care was discussed with each patient and family. Early Childhood Iowa, a State of Iowa program, implemented locally as Early Childhood of Dubuque County is ensuring the well-being of families with children age birth to five by improving efforts in the following areas: healthy children, secure and nurturing families, secure and nurturing child care environments, children ready to succeed in school and safe and supportive communities. Programming by Parents as Teachers, Visiting Nurse Association, Head Start, voluntary 4-year old preschool, and child care centers and homes are specifically designed to address these five desired results. Children need to be in homes that foster healthy development, have safe and secure relationships that encourage early nurturing and learning, and have access to quality community support to increase family success skills. Many families also face additional barriers due to poverty, mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence which decrease their opportunities for success. These programs are an integral support for families with young children to assure they become come healthy and successful adults. [373 words] F3. Driving with data to establish baselines, set targets, track progress, disaggregate for subgroups, create early warning and response systems, tailor strategies, and ensure shared accountability. [750 words] 41 Data has been the driver of the Dubuque Campaign from day one. We understand that the more effective the data, the more intentional you can be, and it helps remove the silos (i.e. funding, programming or organizational silos) and create buy-in. Third grade-reading proficiency data and the strong connection to future success, e.g. graduation from high school and future workforce needs was used to engage community leaders and partners. We quickly added the use of attendance and school readiness data to inform our CSAP in 2012 to describe the problem, prioritize solution areas and set targets. In 2014, Dubuque expanded use of data by engaging with Attendance Works to help improve use of data to create early warning systems, track progress in reducing chronic absence and to inform strategies used by teachers, principals and parents. Dubuque schools began to implement powerful attendance data tools that have improved the ability track which students are missing school and take quick action to help families develop strategies to improve their child's attendance. The use of data in this way has contributed to a 10% decrease in chronic absence in Title-1 schools. Soon after partners in the Dubuque Campaign began to desire the ability to see disaggregated data and to used data to ensure shared accountability among the partners. In 2015, Dubuque invested in Results Based Accountability (RBA) training. Funding from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque provided training. Campaign partners invested their own funds in licensing fees and training time. Partners learned the RBA process and used it to strengthen collaboration, to use data to drive decisions, track progress, tailor strategies, and share accountability and outcomes. The Clear Impact Scorecard is utilized by nearly a dozen partners including schools, nonprofits, and faith and philanthropy organizations. St. Mark Youth Enrichment invested in a Data Coordinator that is shared with Campaign partners to help them improve the use of data, RBA, and the Scorecard. Today, partners share data at each meeting. It drives thinking, decision making, planning and partnerships. Data is also available on the Dubuque Campaign website wwwdbqreads.org to help build awareness in the Dubuque community. Data agreements have been developed between schools and Campaign partners to facilitate sharing of student data, increasing alignment among partners and support of efforts to improve attendance, reading and behavior outcomes. This has been particularly successful at The Dream Center, a program that serves low-income families, including many families of color. Dubuque Community Schools share regular updates with the Dream Center about the attendance, behavior, and academic success of students. The Schools provide staff training and the Center uses aligned curriculum strategies to work with students. Strong relationships between the Dream Center staff and families help impact attendance and behavior outcomes. Data sharing in this way shows promise. Finally, we use data to evaluate programs and processes. In 2016, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning conducted a process evaluation through a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. The evaluation helped improve tools, student identification, and training of AmeriCorps members which resulted in significant improvements in this program from 2015 to 42 2016. The evaluation was also used to write the next competitive grant currently being considered at the federal level for funding for the next three years. We continue to use data to plan for the future. While current results show promise, we know from disaggregated data that we must do even more to serve students and families of color and low-income families to continue to close the gaps in school readiness, school attendance, and reading achievement. We plan to continue to improve our use of data by building capacity within the Campaign and among partners. [607 words] F4. Building cross-sector collaboration, community-wide mobilization, and a coalition of local funders committed to achieving the result. [750 words] Dubuque has a history of supporting cross-sector collaboration to address challenges in the community. Since the early 1990's public-private partnerships have reinvented Dubuque economy, revitalized Dubuque's riverfront, and tackled challenges in workforce, economic opportunity, health, housing and academic achievement. In each case, success has come from the ability of community members and leaders to build strong collaborations and partnerships. The Dubuque Grade Level Reading Campaign is no exception. We launched our Campaign with partners engaged from education, workforce, government, business, nonprofits philanthropy and the faith community. Our kickoff had over 150 parents, teachers, CEOs, police officers, elected officials and parents engaged in thinking about what they could do to address grade level reading. Together we have adopted principles from collective impact like supporting a common agenda, shared measurement, and continuous communication among partners who take aligned action. A network of partners is facilitated by a backbone organization that acts as a convener and catalyst for change. The leadership of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque —our backbone organization — has helped engage many key stakeholders in the community in the network that makes up the Dubuque Campaign and is the fiscal agent for the Campaign. Partners have a common goal — increasing 3'' grade reading achievement. The Foundation's reach into 7 counties that it serves helps engage other communities and support. Today, the Foundation supports Campaign efforts in Dubuque, Jackson County, and Dyersville, Iowa with funding and coordination. Funders have supported the coordination and growth of the Campaign from the beginning. Funds from Community Foundation donors support coordination of the Dubuque Campaign's network. As strategies developed to meet identified needs, funders aligned dollars around them. Foundations, City of Dubuque, and local donors funded Summer Academy. The AmeriCorps Partners in Learning receives grant funding from the state with match funding from the City of Dubuque and Dubuque Community Schools. Dubuque County Early Childhood and Dubuque Community Schools aligned funding to support Parents As Teachers, expansion of quality pre-school programs, support for Head Start and provided matching funds to bring Vroom to the community to support parent engagement efforts. 43 Nonprofit partners like the Dubuque County YM/YWCA, St. Mark Youth Enrichment, and the Dream Center align funding and programming to support Campaign objectives including summer, attendance, school readiness, reading achievement, parent engagement and better use of data. Similarly, Dubuque's higher-education institutions align behind the Campaign goals. Student teachers provide critical staff support in Clarke University's summer program at Bryant School. Loras College and the University of Dubuque have both developed STEAM programs in the summer. Iowa State University Extension leads planning for summer programs and provides direct service programming that supports literacy throughout the community and the City's summer park playground program. Quality preschool teachers are trained through a partnership between Northeast Iowa Community College and Dubuque Community Schools. City of Dubuque support for the Campaign starts at the top. The Mayor and City Council have named Grade-Level Reading as a Top Priority every year since launching the Campaign in 2012. City funding has supported the development of Summer Academy. Leadership and funding from the City Leisure Services Department has supported the expansion of reading and literacy programs in summer playground programs and the AmeriCorps Partners in Learning program provides intensive reading support during the school year and in summer programs. The City's Carnegie Stout Public Library expanded access to board books for area preschools and daycares through the Bridges to Reading Program, and has continuously supported Books for Babies — giving every newborn child their first book, as well as programming in afterschool and summer programs to expand access to books and reading. Cross sector partnerships mean everyone gets involved. A culture is forming that supports reading by 3'' grade. Reading proficiency by 3'' Grade is becoming widely understood as a critical milestone and organizations throughout the community are taking part, for example; • Frequent coverage in our local newspaper, the Telegraph Herald, on local TV and Radio, and in Julien's Journal magazine spread the word • The Rotary Club granted funds to provide books; and the United Way launched the Dolly Parton Library • Barbers who provide free haircuts to kids who read them a book have become common following the lead of Dubuque's own Courtney Homes the Storybook Barber who's story when viral in 2015 • Little Free Libraries have expanded from just a few to over 30 across the community thanks to the support of individuals and groups throughout Dubuque Our collaboration is strong, our community is engaged, action is more aligned and widespread than ever. [748 words] F5. Prioritizing children and families in public housing and reaching those children who are especially vulnerable (children with learning differences, foster care, homeless, incarcerated parents, dual language learners). [750 words] The partners in the Dubuque Campaign use reading data to better understand which students were succeeding and which students needed the Campaign's help. Low-income students had 44 reading proficiency rates far lower than the average in the community (currently 59% compared with 73% overall). Students of color were reading at far lower rates than the average in the community (55%for Black, 61% for Hispanic, and 74% for White students in 2015-16). Girls were more often proficient than boys (71% vs. 65% in 2015-16) and ELL students faced the greatest challenges (44% in 2015-16). Dubuque's Campaign used this understanding of the problem to shape our priorities early on, leading us to focus on schools with high populations of low-income students, Title-1 schools and others. Campaign partners began disaggregating data within their programs to better understand and support efforts in schools. Community-led strategies like the launch of the My Brother's Keeper (MBK) initiative increased focus, awareness and support for the needs of students of color, especially black boys. The MBK initiative has helped to increase awareness of the achievement gap among young people of color and supported efforts to engage parents though book programs and an annual Back to School Bash in Dubuque's most vulnerable neighborhood, the Washington Neighborhood. The Dream Center was started to serve youth and families of color and in the Washington Neighborhood and has become a hub for our most at-risk families to connect with needed supports while the children gain access to academic supports, healthy meals and mentors. Today the Dream Center serves nearly 200 families. Dubuque's YM/YWCA has expanded training in their organization and for the community in Restorative Justice Strategies taught in afterschool programs for students. Students and staff are learning how to support restorative actions among peers on the playground and in the classroom. St. Mark Youth Enrichment recognized they were serving families with multiple risk factors and became skilled in programming to help students, families and their staff learn social-emotional skills that help them cope and manage challenging situations more effectively. The City of Dubuque Housing and Development Department is working with 120 families towards self-sufficiency through the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program. Children receive access to books and additional supports as well as a part of the program. Dubuque does not have large public housing facilities like larger urban centers, but many of the same services and referrals are made through the FSS program to help students access programs like the Summer Academy, Head Start, Iowa's voluntary 4-year old preschool program and healthcare. Students with multiple risk factors are also identified by the Dubuque Community Schools and receive additional supports. Families and caregivers are engaged in the development of Individual Education Plans (IEP). The IEP helps align supports, engages resources and ensures access to accommodations that are designed to support student success. Often community partners are engaged as a part of these efforts —further strengthening relationships and collaboration to support our most at-risk families. 45 Lastly, Inclusive Dubuque, a local network established to advance equity and inclusion, recently completed a community equity profile. Disaggregated data from this report showed a correlation between the equity and student performance. In 2017 the GLR network will be working with education sector leaders to understand the data and act on opportunities to address this achievement gap. [547 words] F6. Utilizing technology to expand reach, mobilize constituencies, improve service delivery, and/or streamline operations [750 words] Use of technology plays an important role in the Dubuque Campaign. Partners are connected through the Campaign's website, e-newsletters and shared data platform (Clear Impact Scorecard). Schools and partnering nonprofits use technology to deliver aligned reading curriculum— Lexia and other reading curriculums are delivered in schools, after-school programs and summer programs. Performance data is shared to ensure alignment among the partners and success for students using the results scorecard. Partners in every category are using technology to expand reach, improve the quality and/or consistency of programming, or engage families. Apps like Vroom are being used by Dubuque County Early Childhood providers to engage parents and provide them with information to help youngsters age 0-5 meet developmental milestones. E-readers and iPads are being used in park playground programs to promote reading. Lexia is being used to customize reading interventions in schools and programs supported by AmeriCorps members. Nearly every program is using technology to streamline operations. Web-based registration systems are used by the Dubuque Schools and programs like St. Marks Youth Enrichment. Parents can access up-to-date information about childcare through Childcare Resource and Referral. Parents-as-Teachers (PAT) uses assessment and case management software on iPads to streamline the case management process. PAT also has the ability to do virtual home visits as a high-tech way to support their high-touch home visitation model. Schools continue to improve the use of technology with one-to-one technology strategies and the use of Attendance Works tools to make attendance-tracking effort more efficient and effective. The Dubuque Campaign recognizes the power of technology. We know we can learn to use it more effectively and will continue to add technology tools to our toolbox. We also understand the fact that technology must be balanced with the high-touch strategies like one-on-one reading interventions with AmeriCorps members, and teachers that create meaningful, authentic relationships that connect programs and schools with students and families. Section G: Updated Information on Your Community and Your Local Campaign G1. Geographic boundary currently covered by your community plan for grade-level reading. Select one. City County 46 Entire metro area Multiple counties (Please list by name below.) Neighborhood (Please list by name below.) School district/s School feeder pattern (Please list by name below.) Small town State Other (Please specify in below.) G2. If you selected multiple counties, neighborhood, school feeder pattern or other, please provide more detail. [250 words] G3. Community size (total population) covered by your local grade-level reading effort. Indicate specific range by selecting one of the following categories. under 10,000 10,000-24,999 25,000-49,999 50,000-99,999 100,000-199,999 200,000-499,999 500,000+ G4. Does your community identify itself as a rural community?This might also include a portion your overall GLR area, such as a specific town or locality. C Yes C No G5. Please provide here a list of all zip codes that cover the full geographic footprint of your local grade- level reading effort. VERY IMPORTANT: Please separate multiple zip codes with commas. 52001, 52002, 52003 G6. Name(s) of all school districts within the geographic territory that your local grade-level reading coalition covers, whether or not your grade-level reading effort is actually working with those districts. VERY IMPORTANT: Please separate school district names with commas. Dubuque Community School District 47 G7. Name(s) of all school districts that are directly involved as a partner in your local coalition and/or whose children and families are the focus of your community plan for grade-level reading. VERY IMPORTANT: Please separate school district names with commas. Dubuque Community School District G8. Total number of students (K-12 total only, not total for each individual grade) in each district listed in #G6 above. Please list by school district name and separate information with commas. Dubuque Community Schools 11,288 G9. Percent of K-12 students on free and reduced-price lunch for each district listed in item G4 above. Please list by school district name and separate information with commas. Dubuque Community Schools 4,001 The Campaign is committed to making available the latest information, research, science, proven and promising programs etc., to assist communities in addressing the needs of marginalized populations. As such, please provide these and any other demographic data points that are important to your overall efforts: Each of the populations below are marginalized populations in Dubuque and we need support to develop authentic relationships with the students and their families. Low-income students make up 41.8% and 53% are proficient Pacific Islander students make up 1.1% and 23% are proficient Black students make up 10.4% and 34% are proficient Hispanic students make up 2.9% and 69% are proficient ELL students make up 3.4% and 48% are proficient G1 Oa. Percent and number of Pre-K to 12 students designated as dual language or English language learners for each district listed in#4 above. Please list by school district name and separate information with commas. Dubuque Community Schools, 224 ELL students,2% G10b. Percent and number of Pre-K to 12 students designated as "special needs" for each district listed in#G6 above. Please list by school district name and separate information with commas. Dubuque Community Schools, 1723 students on IEP, 15.3% G10c. If there any other relevant data points you would like to share, please do so here. [500 words] From the beginning we saw the Campaign's framework as a clear way to connect the dots for key stakeholders between school readiness, 3'' grade reading, high school graduation, and the growing need for a skilled workforce in our community. This clear understanding helped us engage stakeholders from all sectors to the table, including business leaders and policy makers. We invited leaders and their board of directors from business organizations to the table with the goal of systems-level change. These organizations including the Chamber of Commerce and Greater Dubuque Development represent 2,000 businesses and more than 40,000 employees — all needing an educated, talented workforce. They understand Dubuque's GLR Campaign is a key strategy for having that workforce. 48 This also emphasized alignment between the goals of partners in the business sector and the goals of partners in the nonprofit and education sectors. By improving school readiness, attendance, and parent engagement, we are preparing the future workforce. As cities around the country compete for skilled workers, this alignment becomes even more critical. This initiative has built connections and paved the way to dialog on other issues with employers, even stimulating academic programs and career pathways for older students. Business leadership is evidenced by their positions on the School Board, City Council and boards of nonprofits. These leaders are looking to the future, strategically and holistically and that has had a powerful impact on our Grade-Level Reading Campaign and on our community. [238 words] G11. Please provide the total number of children ages 0-8 in geographic area covered by your grade- level reading effort. If you are not sure, please provide your best estimate. Enter numbers only. 6388 G12. Of this total, how many of these children are from low-income families?Again, if you are not sure, please provide your best estimate. Enter numbers only. 1463 Using this spreadsheet, please provide updated contact information for (a) individuals and organizations that are members of your sponsoring coalition and for (b) local funders investing in and/or involved with your local Campaign effort, along with the name of the program officer and email address. Please provide any other helpful details (e.g., amount of funding?for what time period?). G13 Download the spreadsheet, complete it and then upload it here. We have this. F_ (maximum size 100MB) 49 CAMPAIGN FOR GRADE LEVEL READING (GLR) COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS ACTION PLAN (CSAP) 2012 Learning to Read Reading to Learn THE 3 P’S •People = GLR Committees •Planning = CSAP & Collective Impact •Partners = Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, City, School District, Non-profits & Private Donors WEAVING SERVICES TOGETHER •AmeriCorps Partners in Learning •DCSD Summer Academy Wrap Around •Playground Explorations •St Mark Youth Enrichment AmeriCorps Partners in Learning •Academic Tutors in School Summer •St Mark Youth Enrichment •DCSD Summer Academy •Carnegie Stout Public Library •Playground Explorations Recreation Division Playground Explorations •2016 = 8 of 16 park sites with STEAM •2017 = All 16 park sites with STREAM •100% Increase in daily attendance since 2013 Dubuque Community School District •Summer Academy •Before & After Care •AmeriCorps Reading Corps (grant from CFGD) St Mark Youth Enrichment •AmeriCorps •After program care at Prescott as part of Playground program •Preschool participation increased by 4% •QRS rated centers increased by 14% •QRS scores increased on average by 13% •Reduced chronic absence by 25% THE RESULTS School District/Partners THE RESULTS School District/Partners •3rd Grade Reading improved by 2% •78% of Summer Academy students maintained or improved reading proficiency THE RESULTS AmeriCorps •89% (416) students tutored by AmeriCorps improved reading score •92% (439) students tutored by AmeriCorps attended school 90% of the time or more Campaign for Grade Level Reading Pacesetter Honor 2017 (also 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) Questions?