Updated 4/9/2024

2023-2024 Priority:

• Expand awareness of training and professional development resources related to early literacy.

• Increase access to evidence-based home-visiting, parent education, and early literacy programs.
• Expand statewide access to NC Pre-K, 4-, and 5-star early learning programs and other high-quality early childhood programs.
• Increase funding to public schools and early learning programs that serve those children with the highest barriers to success, including children from low-income families and people of color.

Questions about Early Literacy Training Added to Smart Start/NC Partnership for Children Survey:

• The following questions are about training and professional development related to early literacy. Training and professional development provide opportunities for learning using informal and formal training designed to enhance knowledge, skills, and abilities in early literacy.
• Training and professional development can include classes or coursework taken at a community college or university. Training is usually designed to deliver a very specific body of knowledge or to teach a specific skill (such as early literacy).
• Professional development is the continued learning that is designed to happen throughout an individual’s career. Professional development includes, but is not limited to: setting goals, conducting research, participating in skill-based training, attending informal/formal conferences, collaboration, career advancement and performance evaluation.
• (Definition of professional development adapted from NC DHHS site:  https://ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov/Provider/Training-and-Professional-Development)
• Questions:
  • What early literacy training and professional development programs are offered in your community, and where (county and city)?
  • Who are the audiences for the early literacy training and professional development offered in your community? 
  • What are the needs or gaps in early literacy training and professional development in your community?
  • Are there efforts to offer early literacy education training and professional development that aligns to the Science of Reading? (Yes, No, Not Sure)

2023-2024 Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group Meeting Schedule

• Thursday, October 26, 2023, 11:00 to 12:00 pm, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
• Tuesday, June 25, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Daphne Alsiyao, Jessica Lowery Clark, Mary Mathew, Gerri Mattson, Amber Pierce, Kristi Snuggs, Daniel Tetreault; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • Gerri Mattson welcomed everyone to the meeting and reviewed the agenda.
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • At the work group meeting in March, the work group decided to focus on one priority and one related action.
    • Priority: Expand awareness of training and professional development resources related to early literacy.
    • Action: Map current efforts regarding training and professional development related to literacy
  • The group began discussing questions that should be addressed before the group begins mapping. Questions raised were around the purpose and benefit of mapping, the intended use of this resource, and ways to not make the resource maps overwhelming.
• Action Planning Questions
  • The group discussed the following questions:
    • Who is the target audience for mapping?
      • Family support professionals (including home visitors, home-based educators, etc.)
      • Early educators in formal childcare settings
      • Agencies that support the above professionals
    • What do we mean by training and professional development?
      • Early literacy training (formal and/or informal trainings)
    • What are we doing with this map (what is the purpose/ benefit)?
      • Identify strengths, gaps, and best practices in different sectors/ groups.
        • Celebrate what we already have.
        • Determine what practices align with SoR (Science of Reading) based instruction?
      • Build awareness of resources that are available.
        • Focus on what are we using here in NC now (Not a national search of best practice trainings)
      • Move towards funding and policy that supports more opportunities for better literacy training.
    • What training and resources are available from Smart Start and Children’s Resource Centers across the state at the local level?
      • Early Literacy Coordinators Network and/or Peer Network be asked for examples of training and professional development they utilize.
      • A survey with the following questions is being sent to Smart Start Executive Directors within the next couple of weeks.
        • What sources of free books are you able to access in your community?
        • Have you ever participated in any of the following literacy programs in your community?
          • List of literacy programs available in your community that are funded by Smart Start
          • List of literacy programs available in your community that are not funded by Smart Start
  • Daphne Alsiyao (Family Support Manager, Smart Start) shared an opportunity to add questions to the above survey related to early literacy training.
  • Kristi Snuggs (President, Child Care Services Association) shared the survey could also be shared with the providers they work with.
  • The group began brainstorming around potential survey questions.
    • Target audience, age groups (0-8?), science of reading, early literacy focused training or part of larger training, how training is administered, length of time, location of training (regional or statewide)
    • If facilitated, who delivers the training.
    • Cost
    • Early literacy focused staff
    • Alignment to the SoR  (Science of Reading) is important.
• Next Steps for Work Group
  • The next steps are for work group members to provide recommendations for early literacy training questions that could be added to the Smart Start Survey. The group decided to collaborate on the questions over a shared document. Additional information will be shared in the follow-up email.
• Closing
  • The next work group meetings are scheduled for:
    • Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am
    • Tuesday, June 25, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am

Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Daphne Alsiyao, Angela Burch-Octetree, Jessica Lowery Clark, Heather Gray, Micere Keels, Mary Mathew, Amber Pierce, Kristi Snuggs, Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • Mary Mathew and Ashley Rink welcomed everyone to the meeting and reviewed the agenda.
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • The two priorities the Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group identified as their priorities for 2023-2024 for action planning are:
    • Expand awareness of training and professional development resources related to early literacy.
    • Increase access to evidence-based home-visiting, parent education, and early literacy programs.
  • Expectations moving forward.
  • The expectations for the work group moving forward are to identify actions they can take to address the identified priorities. The action plans developed by the work group are for the work group.
  • The number of actions taken to address the priorities and the number of priorities the group develops action plans for is up to the work group. Part of the action planning discussion should include considerations related to capacity to complete action steps and what the group can feasibly do.
  • While this iteration of the Community Council ends in June 2024, the work group of the group can continue, and recommendations can be made for next steps based on the work group’s progress on the actions they worked on.
• Priority 1: Expand awareness of training and professional development resources related to early literacy.
  • Review action planning notes.
    • The action planning notes from the previous work group meeting were reviewed.
    • Work group members were asked to continue to update their organization’s programs and resources in the action planning notes.
    • A target audience column was added to show what audience each organization serves to help identify gaps.
  • Review Action Ranking Survey responses. After the previous work group meeting, members were asked to identify which actions were their first and second choices for addressing the priority related to training and professional development.
    • 1st Choice: Map current efforts regarding training and professional development related to literacy.
    • 2nd Choice: Build awareness about how each sector and system is supporting early literacy and how collaboration can happen between efforts to reach families.
  • Next steps for action planning.
    • The work group members present were in favor of focusing on one action for action planning related to the training and professional development priority, “Map current efforts regarding training and professional development related to literacy.”
    • Discussion on how to proceed with action planning highlighted the need for clarification and additional discussion related to the following.
      • Clarifying the benefits of mapping and what would be the most beneficial for the target audience or audiences.
      • Highlighting key resources and recognizing that there are numerous resources available for educators and that the issue is not availability of resources, it is capacity and time to use existing resources. Educators do not have the capacity to learn and utilize the resources available.
      • Mapping resources may be harmful if the map is intended to be a tool to tell people what to do. If the mapping is more about curating a list of what IS already happening out there, not giving a list of things to do, such as which resources are available to each target audience or focused population.
      • Considering how to create a map that is not overwhelming and highlights key and/or top resources.
      • Recognizing the target audience identified impacts the direction and what is needed.
      • Deciding if the group is mapping trainings, programs, and curriculums and/or mapping organizations such as key stakeholders across the state and counties that are supporting training and professional development related to literacy.
      • Understanding there is a gap in knowledge about resources for those outside of the traditional ECE world.
      • Starting with identifying what training and resources are available from Smart Start and Children’s Resource Centers across the state at the local level.
      • Identifying who has mapped resources and done this well.
      • Using what the group finds out in the mapping process to guide where there are opportunities primed to scale different things in different communities.
      • Recognizing there are already ongoing evaluations of LETRS.
• Priority 2: Increase access to evidence-based home-visiting, parent education, and early literacy programs
  • The work group members present were in favor of focusing on the training and professional development priority for action planning based on capacity for this year. This priority will be moved to the work group’s priority development agenda.
    • The Home Visiting and Parenting Education System (HVPE) developed an action plan. The group has paused but the work is continuing in different ways.
• Next Steps for Work Group
  • In preparation for the next work group meeting, work group members were asked to:
    • Add ideas for questions the group needs to consider and answer for action planning related to mapping current efforts regarding training and professional development related to literacy.
  • A document with the questions shared during the meeting will be shared with the work group.
  • Work Group members can also add their thoughts and responses to the questions included as well.
• Closing
  • The next work group meetings are scheduled for:
    • Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am
    • Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am
    • Tuesday, June 25, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am

Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Daphne Alsiyao, Heather Gray (plus intern), Micere Keels, Mary Mathew, Gerri Mattson, Esharan Monroe-Johnson, Amber Pierce, Kristi Snuggs, Dan Tetreault, Corretta R. Walker, Paula Wilkins; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • Gerri Mattson welcomed everyone and reviewed the agenda. The icebreaker question was what people did related to and/or to celebrate to Read Across America Day.
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • The group reviewed responses from previous discussions on the Jamboard for priority, “Training and professional development related to literacy.”
• Discussion and Action Planning
  • The group began discussing the following questions related to the priority, “Training and professional development related to literacy.”
    • How could the priority be more specific?
    • Who is the target audience?
    • What are realistic actions? What are tangible action steps?
    • What are the gaps and how could they be addressed? What could the group do to address the gap or gaps?
    • Who and/or what agency could take ownership?
  • Refer to document titled 2024-02-27 Jamboard- Priority 1- Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group for the responses.
• Next Steps for Work Group
  • In preparation for the next work group meeting, work group members were asked to:
    • Review the  action planning notes. These notes include the responses to the discussion questions on the Jamboard.
    • Update their organization’s programs and resources in the  action planning notes as needed.
      • The responses from the Jamboard have been added to this list already.
    • Complete the Action Ranking Survey.
      • The purpose of this survey is to assist with identifying one or two actions the Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group can work on to address the priority on training and professional development related to literacy in the short-term.
• Closing
  • The next work group meetings are scheduled for:
    • Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am
    • Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am
    • Tuesday, June 25, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am

Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Angela Burch-Octetree, Coretta Walker, Micere Keels, Gerri Mattson, Jessica Lowery Clark, Heather Gray, Mary Mathew, Kristi Snuggs, Dan Tetreault; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • Gerri Mattson welcomed everyone and reviewed the agenda. The icebreaker question was what people did or did not like about the cold.  
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • At the previous work group meeting, the group had identified the following priorities for this year.
    • Training and professional development related to literacy.
    • Increase access to evidence-based home-visiting, parent education, and early literacy programs.
  • The purpose of the meeting was to provide grounding and leveling setting for the Year of Action, discuss priorities and action planning questions, and identify next steps for the work group.
  • Group agreements, common language, Indicator 6: Third Grade Reading Proficiency, and the Year of Action asks, roles and expectations, and timeline were reviewed. Refer to the slides for additional information on these topics.
• Discussion of 2023-2024 Priorities
  • The group began discussing the following questions related to the priorities.
  • Which priority would the group like to start with to make more specific?
    • The group decided to start discussing the priority on training and professional development related to literacy.
    • The group discussed having a dual approach for training and professional development related to literacy for teachers and families, including family, friend, and neighbor care providers and families with children not in any type of care.
    • The group agreed to focus on the early years (birth to 3)/ Pre-K age group.
    • The group acknowledged that there are still gaps with 4- to 5-year-olds.
  • What do you and your organization bring related to the priority or priorities?
    • Ready Ready: Currently piloting A2i in 10 Pre-K classrooms in our Head Start provider. https://www.learningovations.com/a2i. Meck Pre-K is also piloting A2i in 30 classrooms this year.
    • Ready Ready: Piloting Raising A Reader and Motheread/Fatheread
    • NC DPI: Literacy at Home: Digital Children's Reading Initiative https://www.dpi.nc.gov/students-families/parents-corner/literacy-home-digital-childrens-reading-initiative
    • NC DPI: Have ongoing support for educators as they receive LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training. The training has been provided to all NC Pre-K teachers, site administrators, and other public school Pre-K teachers.
    • Book Harvest: Book Babies: https://www.bookharvest.org/book-babies
    • Guilford County: Resource use to support families with children ages 0 to 5- The Guilford Basics- https://guilfordbasics.org
    • Reach Out and Read: Health care providers are working to reach the younger age group.
  • Who are the other players?
    • Family voice- NCECF (North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation) completed a parent voice report a couple years ago around their thoughts related to barriers and supports for reading- Not About Me Without Me. https://buildthefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ncecf_reports-parents-121017-digital.pdf
    • Providers
    • NC Partnership for children
    • Book Babies parent
  • What is available related to the priority?
    • LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling)
    • Mentoring
    • Science of reading related resources
    • Basics
    • Raising a Reader
    • Local libraries have lots of resources (digital and in person) that often goes underutilized.
• Next Steps for Work Group
  • All work group members were asked to add responses to the discussion questions related to the two priorities to the Jamboard.
    • Which priority would the group like to start with to make more specific?
    • What do you and your organization bring related to the priority or priorities?
    • Who are the other players?
    • What is available related to the priority?
    • What are realistic actions?
    • What are the gaps and how could they be addressed?
• Closing
• The next work group meeting is scheduled for:
• Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 10:00 to 11:00 am

Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Angela Burch-Octetree, Mary Mathew, Gerri Mattson, Amber Pierce, Dan Tetreault; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • Gerri Mattson welcomed everyone and asked them to share their memories of their kindergarten experience.
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • The purpose of the meeting was to provide grounding and leveling setting for the Year of Action, discuss priorities and engaging partners working on third grade reading proficiency, and identify next steps for work group.
  • Group agreements, common language, Indicator 6: Third Grade Reading Proficiency, and the Year of Action asks, roles and expectations, and timeline were reviewed.  Refer to the slides for additional information on these topics.
  • Gerri Mattson shared examples of actions from the Adverse Childhood Experiences and Short-Term Suspensions work groups related to their priorities. Examples of actions included mapping available resources, educating funders about adverse and positive childhood experiences, and exploring how to expand policies about removing suspensions for kindergarten to third graders.
  • Actions and action plans can vary and depend on the identified priorities.
• Discussion of Priorities
  • The 2022-2023 priority was: Reinforce the talent pipeline for early educators for children from birth through third grade by increasing compensation through dedicated funding, ensuring pay parity, and sustaining investments in training and professional development. The action taken included participation in an advocacy day with the Early Education Coalition and other partners at the legislature.
  • The following priorities rose to the top in 2022-2023 that were not prioritized included:
    • Increase access to evidence-based home-visiting, parent education, and early literacy programs
    • Expand statewide access to NC Pre-K, 4-, and 5-star early learning programs and other high-quality early childhood programs
    • Increase funding to public schools and early learning programs that serve those children with the highest barriers to success, including children from low-income families and people of color
  • Updates and discussion related to the priority from 2022-2023 included the following. (Priority: Reinforce the talent pipeline for early educators for children from birth through third grade by increasing compensation through dedicated funding, ensuring pay parity, and sustaining investments in training and professional development.
    • The work group needs to learn about work happening within this space with early care and education providers to help understand where to best narrow this priority.
    • The priority should focus on training and professional development related to literacy for the area the group chooses to focus on.
    • This priority should be narrowed down and be more specific in some way, such as with NC Pre-K or another area.
    • This priority was still important and relevant,
  • The group discussed the following related to the three additional priorities that rose to the top the previous year.
    • All were important.
    • All the priorities would need to be narrowed to one direction if they were prioritized, such as choosing one, home-visiting, parent education, early literacy programs, etc.
    • Consider other initiatives happening throughout the state related to these areas.
    • Focus on training and professional development across the areas in the priorities.
    • Consider how to infuse best practices on early literacy in professional development.
    • Consider what the continuum of training and professional development from birth looks like and help people understand how to support language development.
    • Funders love the idea of working together more efficiently across the sectors. This could lead to increased funding by breaking down silos. A focus could be on cross-sector professional development and training related to early literacy.
    • An understanding of the gaps in services across the state is needed to determine whether the priorities should include increasing and/or expanding; including what areas need more energy behind them.
  • The two priorities of focus for additional discussion are:
    • Training and professional development related to literacy
    • Increase access to evidence-based home-visiting, parent education, and early literacy programs (cross-sector; find out where the action is)
• Discussion about Engaging Partners Working on Third Grade Reading Proficiency  
  • The North Carolina Early Education Coalition is operating under a co-directorship with Angela Burch-Octetree and Susan Butler-Staub.
  • Lisa Finaldi with the NC Early Childhood Foundation was asked to share the opportunity to participate with this work group with the thirteen communities involved in the North Carolina Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Mary will connect with Lisa about her joining the work group and share what the Campaign communities are prioritizing around grade level reading.
  • The group discussed engaging Read Charlotte about their efforts around children’s literacy.
  • Work group members were asked to continue to invite others to participate.
• Next Steps for Work Group
  • Action steps identified during the meeting included the following.
    • Gerri Mattson will contact Michelle Ries about an update from the breakout session during NCIOM’s Annual Meeting and who is leading the work discussed.
    • Mary Mathew will connect with Lisa Finaldi about her joining the work group and share what the Campaign communities are prioritizing around grade level reading.
    • Gerri Mattson will reach out to work group members about the next steps related to the priority areas and the agenda for the next meeting.
    • All work group members are asked to continue to invite others to join the group.
    • Continue to narrow the priorities.
• Closing
  • The next work group meetings were scheduled for:
    • Tuesday, January 23, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams
    • Tuesday, February 27, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Microsoft Teams

Thursday, October 26, 2023, 11:00 to 12:00 pm, Microsoft Teams- Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Jessica Lowery Clark, Muffy Grant, Mary Mathew, Gerri Mattson, Amber Pierce, and Dan Tetreault; Staff: Ashley Rink

• Welcome and Agenda Overview
  • The purpose of the meeting was to provide grounding and leveling setting for the Year of Action, review indicator and priorities and identify next steps for work group.
  • Work group members present introduced themselves and shared their favorite genre of books to read.
• Grounding and Level Setting
  • Group agreements, common language, Indicator 6: Third Grade Reading Proficiency, Year of Action asks, roles and expectations, and timeline were reviewed. 
  • The 2023 NC SHIP report has been released.
  • Gerri Mattson is continuing as the DHHS Co-Lead for this work group. Mary Mathew and Jessica Lowery Clark have stepped down as the Community and Organization Co-Leads for this year. Both of those co-leader positions are open. 
• Priority Review
  • The work group determines the number of priorities the work group will take action on/ develop action plans for the next year. Priority review includes consideration of if the priorities are clearly stated, are actionable, are resourced, and if the priority will continue to be a priority. 
  • The 2022-2023 Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group identified the following priority:
    • Reinforce the talent pipeline for early educators for children from birth through third grade by increasing compensation through dedicated funding, ensuring pay parity, and sustaining investments in training and professional development
• Next Steps for Work Group Discussion
  • Across the NC SHIP Community Council there are 18 work groups; of the 18 work groups 14 were newly formed last year and 4 were existing groups that aligned and/or their priorities were incorporated with the NC SHIP. 
  • The group began discussing what the work group would look like for this year, including if the work group would continue as the Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group or align with another existing group. If the work group decided to align with another existing group, that group would be approached to have a conversation about if they were willing to align with the current priority or if their priorities would or could be incorporated into the NC SHIP related to third grade reading proficiency.
  • Other groups with similar focus and priority areas related to third grade reading proficiency discussed and other considerations included:
    • NC Campaign for Third Grade Level Reading
    • Reach Out and Read
    • EarlyWell Initiative
    • Think Babies NC
    • County grade level reading groups, such as Ready Ready,  Read Charlotte, WAKE Up and Read. There are efforts to align those groups across the state with the national grade level reading initiatives.
    • Alignment with other groups may vary based on the priority identified. The policy fit depends on if the policy work is around third grade reading/early literacy or work force. Work is being done across the state in both areas. Childcare continues to impact early literacy. Another priority that was considered last year was around home visiting, there are other groups focusing on this.
    • The NC Early Childhood Foundation has developed a policy and practice crosswalk of related other state-level initiatives. They are also hosting a fellowship/ community of practice around the science of reading.
• Closing
  • The group discussed intentionally inviting others to join the Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group. The recommendation was for work group members to commit to inviting at least one agency and to brainstorm about who some of those agencies and/or individuals could be. Additional recommendations were to include more perspectives from across the state, such as rural and other communities.
  • The next steps identified included:
    • Complete the Doodle Poll to assist with scheduling the next work group meeting.
    • Commit to reaching out to at least 1 agency to ask for recommendations for someone from their agency to be involved with this work group.
    • Add the information for agencies and/or individuals being contacted about being involved with the Third Grade Reading Proficiency Work Group to the shared document.

• Child Care for NC: United for Change: https://childcarefornc.org/
• Early childhood caucus shares priorities, including $300 million childcare request: https://www.ednc.org/2023-03-09-nc-early-childhood-caucus-shares-priorities-300-million-child-care-teacher-pay-subsidy/
• General Assembly of NC- House Bill 483- Auto Subsidy Eligibility/Childcare Teacher/Pilot: https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2023/Bills/House/PDF/H483v0.pdf
• Pathways Action Framework: FINAL_NCECF_report-pathways-actionframework_digital-spreads-020519.pdf (https://buildthefoundation.org/)