The Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership

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The Miami-Dade Family Learning
Partnership Advancing reading, language and
literacy the foundations for progress
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Vision Miami-Dade will be a place where
parents and caregivers are effective as
childrens first, and most important,
teachers. children have high quality literacy
and language instruction, beginning with early
childhood experiences and extending throughout
their school years. outstanding adult English
and native language literacy programs are readily
available to parents, caregivers and the greater
community.
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To ensure that Miami-Dades children enter school
with the foundation of language and literacy
skills they need to succeed.
Initial Primary Goal
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Why should literacy be a top priority in
Miami-Dade?

• School Readiness 30 of children in Miami-Dade
  start first grade without a foundation to learn.
• Childrens Literacy Nearly 43 of 3rd-10th
  graders in Miami-Dade public schools are
  struggling at the lowest levels of literacy.
• High-School Dropouts Miami-Dades high-school
  dropout rate is 9. This is 44 higher than the
  national average.
• Students with low literacy skills are
  significantly more likely to drop out of school.
• School dropouts are two and a half times more
  likely to be on welfare and almost twice as
  likely to be unemployed.
• Adult Literacy 42 of adults in the county
  operate at the lowest level of English literacy.
  This undermines their economic progress and
  ability to help their children succeed in school.

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Research shows that improving literacy boosts the
quality of life for everyone

• Investing Early Every dollar invested in early
  childhood education saves seven in future special
  education, crime, welfare and other costs.
• Impact of Programs Parents who participate in
  family literacy programs read or look at books
  with their children 40 more often.
• Access to Books The more types of reading
  materials there are in the home, the better
  children perform in reading proficiency.
• Family Education Student SAT scores rise with
  increased parental education.

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And we have the means and knowledge to make
significant progress

• School Readiness It has become a new, national
  movement, and Miami-Dade is poised to build on
  the resources and knowledge generated from this
  movement.
• Programs We have a number of education programs,
  but its incumbent upon us to collaborate across
  sectors. Offering a continuum of services will
  create new opportunities for our community.
• Language Development We can help all parents,
  irrespective of their socio-economic levels,
  through emphasizing the language development of
  our children.
• Infrastructure We have new resources, including
  a literacy hotline, and advertising mechanisms to
  communicate better with families.
• Public and Economic Health Just as we immunize
  our children against diseases, we have the
  knowledge to immunize our children against
  illiteracy.

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Focusing particularly on families with young
children, we will advance three key strategies

• Strategy 1 Parents as First Teachers. Provide
  parents/caregivers
• with guidance on nurturing childrens
  language(s)/literacy, and
• information on family and adult literacy
  education opportunities.
• Strategy 2 Childrens Literacy. Strengthen the
  literacy
• preparation and instruction of children from
  birth through grade 2 to
• ensure a strong learning continuum.
• Strategy 3 Adult Literacy. Develop
  recommendations to improve
• adult literacy education in English and native
  languages, and
• engage employer support for learners.

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Strategy 1 Parents as first teachers

• Methods to achieve progress
• 1. Outreach to parents/caregivers through
• Employers Schools
• Faith-Based Organizations Courts
• Literacy Providers Family Service
  Providers
• Health Providers Head Start
• Libraries Community Gathering Places
• Local Bookstores Local Government
• Child Care Providers Native Language Media
• Activities Workshops and events that offer a
  toolkit to parents/caregivers on nurturing their
  childrens language development, and provide
  information on family and adult literacy
  opportunities. Expansion of Reach Out and Read to
  all clinics that serve children on Medicaid.
• Emphasize parent-to-parent engagement.
• Offer incentives to encourage participation
  (books, child photos, meals).

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• Strategy 1 Parents as first teachers
• Methods to achieve progress, continued
• 2. Reinforce outreach via an ad-media campaign
• Activities Create hotline capacity for literacy
  program referral. Advertise through the Teach
  More/Love More campaign to make parents and
  caregivers aware of the importance of nurturing
  childrens language development and love of
  books, and to issue a call to action. Coordinate
  with the Ad Council campaign to promote the
  referral hotline.

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• Strategy 1 Parents as first teachers
• Methods to measure progress
• Positive change in parent behavior measured via
  surveys conducted in collaboration with agencies
  involved in child development.
• Increased enrollment in family and adult literacy
  education programs.
• High media consumption (e.g native language radio
  station ratings and/or listener calls, survey
  reactions to public awareness campaign, use of
  in-store kiosks, number of web hits, etc..).
• Increased distribution of books at newborn
  nurseries, medical clinics, day care centers,
  early childhood programs, schools, via radio
  requests, etc...

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• Strategy 1 Parents as first teachers
• Potential lead organization and partners
• Potential Lead Organizations
• The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and
  Miami-Dade Public Schools
• Potential Key Partners
• Chambers of Commerce School Readiness Coalition
• United Way of Miami-Dade Association of
  Independent Schools of
• Higher Education Florida (AISF)
• Miami-Dade Public Library System Head Start
• Childrens Services Council Alliance for Human
  Services
• Faith-Based Organizations Reach Out and
  Read/Miami Pediatric
• Family Central Society
• Education Department of Child Care Providers
• The Miami Herald

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Strategy 2 Childrens literacyMethods to
achieve progress

• 1. Support universally available, quality pre-K
  for 4 year olds.
• Activities Support the Mayor of Miami-Dade
  Countys initiative. Engage
• literacy experts, parents and caregivers to meet
  with editors and opinion
• leaders, write op-ed pieces, and participate in
  other efforts to influence
• public opinion.
• 2. Support for improved child care and pre-K
  training.
• Activity Work to require literacy development
  and training of all
• licensed child care providers and teachers of
  birth-pre-K children. Conduct
• systematic, measurable outreach to informal child
  care providers,
• employing potential models from other U.S.
  cities.

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• Strategy 2 Childrens literacy
• Methods to achieve progress, continued
• 3. Advocate for a formal educational commitment
  to early literacy development.
• Activities Develop a pre-K component in the
  Comprehensive
• Reading Plan (currently K-12). Create
  coordination and communication
• mechanisms between child care providers and the
  schools to develop a
• continuum of services. Work to create sustained,
  centralized funding for early grade literacy
  instruction. Expand the availability of family
  literacy through Head Start and other early care
  and education settings
• 4. Sustain and expand high-quality tutoring for
  young learners.
• Activity Engage local universities, colleges and
  Miami-Dade Public Schools to sustain and/or
  expand their participation in the America Reads
  and other tutoring programs.

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• Strategy 2 Childrens literacy
• Methods to measure progress
• Increase in school readiness indicators,
  particularly the LAP-D language and learning
  assessment for pre-K programs and entrance
  assessments for Kindergarten programs.
• Increase in grade level reading through
  literacy-specific student assessment measurements
  for children in grades one and two.

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• Strategy 2 Childrens literacy
• Potential lead organization and partners
• Potential Lead Organizations
• Miami-Dade School Readiness Coalition and
  Miami-Dade Public Schools
• Potential Key Partners
• Chambers of Commerce United Way of Miami-Dade
• Mayor of Miami-Dade County Higher Education
• Head Start Child Care Providers
• Child Development Services Family Central
• The Early Childhood Initiative Reach Out and
  Read
• Foundation Childrens Services Council
• Alliance for Human Services

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Strategy 3 Adult literacy

• Methods to achieve progress
• Establish a task force
• Activities Develop consistent standards of
  instruction, learner
• evaluation and service. Provide specific
  recommendations on
• expanding and strengthening native language
  literacy instruction.
• Develop recommendations for how employers can
  encourage their
• workers to pursue literacy and language education.

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• Strategy 3 Adult literacy
• Methods to measure progress
• Improvements in program accessibility,
  instruction and methods of measuring student
  progress
• Increased employer adoption of policies and
  practices that encourage employees to pursue
  language and literacy instruction.
• Increased use of literacy-related services

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• Strategy 3 Adult literacy
• Potential lead organization and partners
• Potential Lead Organizations Miami-Dade Public
  Schools and
• Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
• Potential Key Partners
• United Way of Miami-Dade
• Workforce Development
• Head Start
• Selected outstanding adult and family literacy
  providers

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Resource for Strategies 1-3

• Family Learning Network
• Comprised of literacy and family service
  providers, the
• Family Learning Network will be a vehicle for
• maintaining up-to-date information on literacy
  and language services and funding sources
• enlisting committee members and obtaining advice
  for Family Learning Partnership strategies and
• disseminating information on Family Learning
  Partnership activities

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• Proposed Initial Institutional Home
• The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation
• Host Institution Responsibilities
• Ensure coordination of all three strategy areas.
• Coordinate funding mobilization and partnership
  development.
• Monitor and report progress of the three strategy
  areas.
• Manage advocacy.
• Hire an executive director and supporting staff
  with assistance of a hiring committee.
• Recommendation Establish the Miami-Dade Family
  Learning Partnership as a free-standing
  organization within two years.

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Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership Host The
ECIF. Become independent organization within 2
years
Leadership Group
Strategy 1 Parents as first teachers ECIF/MDCPS
Strategy 3 Adult literacy MDCPS/Greater Miami
Chamber of Commerce
Strategy 2 Childrens literacy SRC/MDCPS
Chair(s)
Working Committees
Committee 1
Committee 2
Committee 3
Family Learning Network Provide up-to-date
service and funding information Advise
strategies Assist outreach Disseminate
information
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