In order to improve early grade literacy during the pandemic, Learn4Life explored the root causes (or factors) that present unique challenges to our students during this time. The common theme was many supports, beyond just those in the classroom, are necessary to have in place for students to learn. Specifically, L4L’s most recent factor analysis found that the pandemic has had a profound impact on adult literacy, attendance, children’s mental health, early childhood education, food
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on public education. From massive budget cuts to reopening schools for the 2020-21 school year, many questions abound. How will local public school systems handle this adversity? What are some of the other tactics being used around the region? Join L4L’s Dr. Ken Zeff and L4L Leadership Council members Dr. Morcease Beasley and Dr. Pamela Whitten as they discuss implications for metro Atlanta k-12 districts and higher
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In 2019-20, metro Atlanta students lost nine weeks of regular instruction due to the COVID-mandated quick transition to distance learning in mid-March. Based on local and national data, if students had taken the Milestone assessments in spring 2020, the percentage of students demonstrating proficiency would be expected to drop 3.6 points in English language arts and 4.9 points in math as compared to last year. Two specific proficiency measures tracked by Learn4Life which are highly
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Days after our schools closed for summer break, our country was rocked by a series of events that highlight the lingering racial tensions and injustices that Black people face. Over the last two weeks, we have been inspired by the voices of protest from every corner of our region. Learn4Life stands with our Black students and their families. In metro Atlanta, there is a profound deficit of opportunity available to Black students. We understand that
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During this challenging season, we are heartened—but not at all surprised—to see metro Atlanta’s educational organizations quickly rise to the new demands of supporting young children and students through COVID-19. In the spirit of uplifting best practices, here are some lessons from our region’s bright spots… 1. Develop your crisis response while holding a copy of your mission statement Your organization’s vision mattered before this crisis, and it still matters now. With so many child-care,
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Friends of Learn4Life, As you know, L4L’s mission is to lift up student success throughout metro Atlanta. During these challenging times, relationships are essential so we will continue to build connections across sectors by highlighting and lifting up proven practices that support our students. While L4L’s strategy keeps us focused on the horizon, in the short-term all meetings will be virtual. This includes the 3rd Grade Literacy Network meeting on April 14. We will send
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Are you seeking ways to push your work to the next level in 2020? Building a “Core Team” of critical friends from other organizations may be the answer. Core Team is Learn4Life’s Secret Sauce. What makes L4L’s collective impact effort different? Rather than build a large staff, L4L leverages a little known volunteer corps known as Core Team as an advisory group to drive the work of each Change Action Network and convening. Comprised of
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A sobering statistic: Georgia’s counselor to student ratio is 1 to 466, which means each student can expect about 38 minutes of counseling per year. For many high school students, especially first-generation students, this isn’t enough time to support them through the college-going process. There are, however, strategies that are dramatically improving students’ odds of attaining a post-secondary degree. Here are some of the bright spot strategies our Post-Secondary Network has learned about and supported
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What are the highest performing schools doing to improve literacy for low-income students? Learn4Life’s Early Literacy Network recently asked this question, and then reviewed schools’ third grade reading proficiency data to find these metro Atlanta schools. (Here is the full data pack; schools are represented by dots). It turns out there is quite a wide distribution of schools, even among schools with very similar student populations. We selected a handful of schools that were scoring–or
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