NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading (Pathways) is based on the belief that together we can realize greater outcomes for young children than any of us can produce on our own.
 
With this frame as our guide, Pathways launched in 2015 as an invitation to you - North Carolina’s public, private and nonprofit leaders - to imagine what would be possible if we adopted shared measures and aligned strategies to support children’s optimal development beginning at birth. In true North Carolina fashion, we have come together to imagine . . . and act. North Carolinians have shown up, engaged, and worked hard to determine what NC should measure and do.

Together, hundreds of North Carolinians have worked across disciplines, systems, geography, and the political aisle to:
  • Co-create shared measures of success. In Phase I of Pathways, a Data Action Team identified shared birth-through-age-eight, whole child measures that research has demonstrated can move the needle on third grade reading proficiency to create the Measures of Success Framework.
  • Define where to act first. In Phase II, Learning Teams looked at the NC data around those measures and, based on overall need and equity considerations, recommended three areas to move to action on first -- children's social-emotional health, high quality early care and education, and regular school attendance.
  • Identify an action framework. In Phase III, Design Teams have co-created a Pathways Action Framework to help North Carolina align around policy, practice and capacity-building strategies that will shift the prioritized measures of success, particularly for children of color.
Implementing Pathways will continue to take all of us. Organizations are already leading the way, endorsing the Action framework. We have seen from our work to date that the power of the Pathways Initiative comes from the broad, cross-sector participation and support that has characterized the work from the beginning. Part of how we will, together, move the Pathways Action Framework forward is to continue to demonstrate that cross-sector support.

Click here to read the framework. Are you ready to support it?

Question Title

* The NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading initiative is tackling one of the greatest challenges facing our state: the majority of our children are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade.

Reading well in the early grades predicts a child’s academic and career success. Research shows that improving third grade reading takes a coordinated birth-through-age-eight approach that focuses on children’s health and development, families and communities, and high-quality learning environments with regular attendance. It takes aligned policies and practices all working toward a common vision.

Since 2015, hundreds of North Carolina leaders have worked across sectors, geography, and the political aisle to co-create Shared Measures of Success and an Action Framework for North Carolina.

The Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Measures of Success are research-based, whole-child, birth-through-age-eight measures that can help North Carolina determine if our young children are on the path to reading proficiently by the end of third grade.
  • Our organization/agency endorses the Measures of Success Framework and recommends that they serve as the foundation for building North Carolina’s state and local birth-through-eight system work.
The Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Action Framework provides North Carolina with a path forward on the areas Pathways stakeholders identified for action first—children’s social-emotional health, high quality early care and education, and regular school attendance.
  • Our organization/agency supports the Action Framework’s expectations for child and family systems, and agrees that the actions, if well-implemented, can improve children's third grade reading and well-being outcomes. We recommend that North Carolina implement the actions outlined in the framework.
By submitting this endorsement, you are giving permission to publicly share your organization’s support.

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