Get Ready to Read! Now
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Get Ready to Read! (GRTR!) is a constantly expanding program with new activities and partnerships. Through growth and support we are fulfilling our goal to ensure that all 4-year-olds are screened for early literacy skills and are exposed to the specific skill-building activities that can help them gain the fundamental skills necessary for learning to read.
This section will provide information about Get Ready to Read!'s latest activities. It will be updated regularly, so check back again soon
At the end of 2003,Get Ready to Read! trained 1,375 people and screened 12,600 children! Following is a status report of priority program areas for the end of 2003:
Demonstrations
- NCLD has completed its demonstration of the English version of the GRTR! screening tool in Georgia. We worked with five local coordinating agencies in Georgia to train a total of 175 people and screen about 1,200 children two times (fall and spring for pre- and post-assessment data).
- In addition, NCLD also has completed demonstrations in Arizona (50 people trained and 360 children screened) and Maryland (60 people trained and 600 children screened)
- A final evaluation report from the demonstrations has been completed and is available here.
Trainings
- Separate from the demonstrations, we conducted three training-of-trainers workshops in Georgia in the summer of 2003. So far, we have trained close to three-quarters of the 100 trained-trainers we set as our goal. The remaining workshops will be held this fall and winter.
- In addition to training trainers, we continued a second year of screenings in Georgia using the same five local coordinating agencies that took part in the demonstration. The five agencies collectively screened an additional 750 children.
- In addition to Georgia, we have conducted trainings in:
- Idaho - 400 people have been trained and over 4,000 children will be screened using the English version of the screening tool
- Pennsylvania - 40 people were trained this past fall and 400 children have been screened at the beginning of the school year using the English version of the screening tool. These same children will go through follow-up screening in the spring of 2004.
- California - 80 people have been trained through our partnership with Jumpstart
- Vermont - 120 people have been trained and approximately 1,200 children have been screened at the beginning of this school year. The children will go through follow-up screening in the spring of 2004.
- Oregon - 40 teachers were trained to use the Spanish version of the screening tool.
Arizona
- Working with the Arizona Literacy and Learning Center (ALLC) as our local partner, we have begun a statewide implementation of GRTR! in Arizona. Working in Arizona will prepare NCLD for promoting nationwide universal screening by providing experience and evidence on dissemination in a fragmented early childhood development and child care delivery system. Unlike Georgia, Arizona does not have a universal pre-K system. Instead, the state has separate - but increasingly coordinated - preschool, childcare, and Head Start programs, including large numbers of Native American and migrant populations. Over half of the 100 trained trainers we have committed to prepare by the end of 2004 have gone through training.
Spanish Version
- We have completed trials of the Spanish version of the screening tool in Phoenix, Atlanta, Green Bay (WI), and Los Angeles. A total of 450 children were screened.
- The trials gave us an opportunity to use the Spanish screening tool with mono- and bilingual four-year-olds and their adult guardians. An evaluation report from the Spanish trials, as well as a technical report, have been completed.
- Two states - New York and Georgia - are implementing larger-scale demonstrations of the Spanish screening tool in 2004. The demonstrations involve screening a total of 600-700 children. The first round of screening was completed in the Fall of 2003.
Web Site
- Funded by a grant from the Cisco Foundation, a GRTR! Web site upgrade followed the release of three top-notch interactive reading games that were posted on the site in 2004. To try the online games, please visit the online games page.
- The redesigned site also features skill-building activities that complement the GRTR! screening tool, such as 36 learning activity cards. These activities are also available in Spanish.
New Partners
- Jumpstart is conducting a GRTR! pilot program in California this year, and has trained AmeriCorps volunteers at San Francisco State to use GRTR! as part of the work they do with preschool children. The volunteers will communicate the results to the children's teachers and parents in order to facilitate differentiated instruction in school and at home.
- We are working with the Child Welfare League of America to secure funding to implement training of CWLA members in 8-10 major cities throughout the U.S.
- We've entered into a partnership with the Stern Center for Language and Learning in Vermont to train a cohort of trainers who actively work with a network of early child care providers throughout the state.
National Forum
- We are planning a "National Forum on Early Literacy Screening, Assessment, and Policy" to take place in Washington, DC. The Forum will include panel sessions and workshops that relate early literacy screening to the larger research, policy, and practice arenas.
GRTR! Long-Term Strategy
- We are speaking with select program partners and soliciting outside funding to implement a national Get Ready to Read! Screening Day - possibly in conjunction with International Literacy Day. GRTR! Screening Day would offer screening for four-year-olds at locations frequented by families in key cities around the country. The event will also offer parents the opportunity to learn how to help their children strengthen their pre-literacy skills with other GRTR! program components (i.e., skill-building activity cards, interactive reading games, checklists).
- Over the next two years, we plan to utilize a train-the-trainer model to implement GRTR! statewide in a total of six to eight states. In each of these states, we will prepare a minimum of 100 trained-trainers to assist early childhood professionals and parents in the use of the screening tool.
For more information, contact Karen Golembeski, Assistant Director, Programs, at
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