Last month, the Alliance held a webinar on funding for the Striving Readers program, a comprehensive approach to strengthen literacy for children from birth through grade twelve. At that time, budget negotiations were still underway but after months of negotiations, House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the White House finally came to an agreement on a long-term continuing resolution (CR) that establishes final spending levels for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, which officially began more than six months ago. Under the CR, named the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, which the president signed into law on April 15, federal spending was cut by nearly $40 billion, compared to FY 2010. Based on the text of the CR, $200 million in funding was eliminated for Striving Readers. Find out more in the latest edition of Straight As.
The video below, taken from the Striving Readers webinar, explains the importance of comprehensive literacy programs in preparing students for college and careers. On a related note, this week the Alliance released a policy brief calling for the development of K-12 literacy plans aligned with the English Language Arts common standards. Catherine Gewertz wrote about the policy brief, Engineering Solutions to the National Crisis in Literacy: How to Make Good on the Promise of the Common Core State Standards, today in her Curriculum Matters blog for Education Week. This brief includes recommendations to leverage improvements in literacy skills from birth through grade twelve by providing systemic approaches, equitable resources, and strong teacher training.
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