All Events03:00 - 04:30 pm
Ready, Set, Go: Two-Generation Approaches for Kindergarten Readiness
United Way Worldwide and Ascend at the Aspen Institute have long partnered with each other and with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading to disrupt the cycle of poverty and create more hopeful futures for children with a focus on improving early learning. Two-generation (2Gen) approaches, which support children as well as their parents and caregivers, help whole families build the necessary foundations for success. An exploration of 2Gen approaches can help to identify what’s working to engage parents in this critical role as their child’s first and most important teacher. This is especially important with research findings documenting that the entire third-grade reading gap is evident by the end of kindergarten, and we know that double-digit gaps in reading proficiency unfortunately still persist.
Thankfully, there are bright spots and silver linings that can offer us hope for adoption, adaptation or reinvention. United Way Worldwide and Ascend have many promising strategies for supporting parents in their critical role. GLR Week provides us with the perfect opportunity to engage in discussion with local and national leaders and the CGLR Network about these promising strategies.
Success By 6, led by United Way, was created as a collaborative, community-building and systemic approach to increase awareness and make the case for the importance of positive early childhood development that puts children on a path to school success. This work continues, as supporting early learning and development is a core part of the work of most United Ways. Ascend at the Aspen Institute is also leading work to reimagine early childhood and well-being for America’s youngest children and their families, intentionally focusing on children and the adults in their lives together. We are excited to explore these 2Gen approaches, unpack how we have been successful in fostering supportive and responsive relationships, and investigate other strategies that help ensure young children are ready to succeed in kindergarten and on the path to third-grade reading proficiency.
Join us on Monday, July 22, from 12:30-2 p.m. ET, as we launch both GLR Week 2024 and a series of three special learning and engagement opportunities that will continue through the fall as a collaboration between CGLR, Ascend and United Way. The GLR Week event and the following sessions will dive into 2Gen approaches that ensure young children are prepared for kindergarten success while also increasing intergenerational prosperity and fostering well-being among parents and their children. This will be a chance to learn from our national work as well as from local leaders about what works on the ground to prepare young children for kindergarten and focus early on closing the gap in reading achievement. We hope you will join us to gain insights and ideas that you can bring into your own community.
