1 Supporting Parent Success Great Rivers Convening, Feb 2015

The Readiness Gap: Too many children from low-income families begin school already far behind. The Attendance Gap: Too many children from low-income families miss too many days of school. The Summer Slide: Too many children from low-income families lose too much ground over the summer months. Community Solutions 2

Two Big Bets: Parents & Health 3

“The focus on readiness, attendance and summer learning has led to an unsurprising conclusion – parents are the secret sauce.” −Ralph Smith, Los Angeles Times

Big Bet: Parents No one loves their children more than parents do. We know that parents are their children’s first teacher, brain builder, best coach, strongest advocate, and most important role model. 5

“Parents love for their children is the single greatest and most underutilized natural resource in education.” −Springboard Collaborative

Successful Parents Initiative 7

Successful Parents Skill-building, knowledge and awareness Parent/teacher and parent/provider relationships Technology 8

Strategies for Success 9

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Enrich their Children’s Vocabulary & Promote a Love for Reading  Community Solution Area: School Readiness Focus on book and language-rich environments  Proven & promising practices: Reach Out And Read Raising A Reader First Book Imagination Library  Indicator of success: More parents reading to their children every day; children reading at least 20 minutes daily

1. More parents reading to their children every day; children reading at least 20 minutes daily 2. Fewer children with undiagnosed and untreated developmental problems 3. Fewer kids missing school due to asthma or other respiratory diseases 4. More children engaged in summer learning activities Indicators of Success

1.Given our CSAP, which of the Successful Parents’ strategic areas best aligns with our priorities? 2. What partners do we have or would we need in our Coalition? 3. What local funders have interest in any one of these areas? 4. What data is available or what would we need to do to make the data available? Who would track? What would “moving the needle” on these indicators look like in our communities? 5. What support would we need – including from GLR? Table Top Questions

14 Yolie Flores, Senior Fellow Campaign for Grade-Level Reading