African American Boy Reading

2015 NAEP Results: A Red Flag

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recently released the results of the 2015 Nation’s Report Card for 4th and 8th grade students. In the NAEP reading assessment, students’ reading comprehension is measured by reading grade-appropriate materials and answering questions based on the selection they read. The type of texts students read are literacy (fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry) and …

Michael Jordan Donation

Michael Jordan Supports Children’s Literacy Initiative’s Work in Chicago Public Schools to Improve Student Reading Achievement

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 16, 2015 — Basketball great Michael Jordan selected national nonprofit Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) for a one-time gift to support CLI’s work in Chicago Public Schools to get more city children reading proficiently by 3rd grade. Jordan picked CLI as one of 23 Chicago-area, children-related charities to which he is making a one-time gift from his net proceeds from a recent …

First Snow by Peter McCarty

Stay Warm This Winter with Great Books

Winter break can be a great time to spend some extra time reading with the children in your life.  Cozy up together with one of these seasonal picture books and you’re sure to feel warm. First Snow by Peter McCarthy Pedro travels a long way to visit his five cousins.  He has never seen snow and does not like to …

Kids Reading with Teacher

CLI to Use $19.5M Grant to Reach More Students in New Markets

“The CLI program produces substantial effects on teachers’ classroom environment and literacy practices, which in turn, lead to measurable effects on average reading achievement in early elementary grades.” That was American Institutes for Research’s conclusion after its three-year impact evaluation of Children’s Literacy Initiative’s five-year, federally funded project in 38 schools across four, low-performing urban school districts. Now CLI is …

From the Field: Writer's Workshop

From the Field: Success With Writer’s Workshop

“From the Field” is a collection of short, inspiring and heart-warming classroom anecdotes contributed by our professional developers as they work in classrooms across the country. Names of teachers and students have been changed. Even though the Thanksgiving holiday has passed, it’s still a great time for reflection. While many of us working at CLI do not work directly in classrooms, I am …

African American Boy Raising Hand

Children’s Literacy Initiative Receives $19.5 Million Federal Innovation Grant

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 16, 2015 — Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI), a national nonprofit focused on strengthening literacy in early education, will receive nearly $19.5 million from the 2015 Investing in Innovation (i3 grant) competition from the U.S. Department of Education. This is the second time that CLI has received a prestigious i3 grant. The award comes after a study from the American Institutes …

Child Reading

Helping Your Readers Build Stamina

What do the following people have in common: a runner completing a marathon, a long-distance swimmer crossing the English Channel and a second grader reading for 20 minutes?  Stamina, that’s what!  Just as athletes train each and every day to go farther, to be stronger, and to reach their athletic goals, children need to train in their own way to reach …

Uncover Discover Recover

Uncover, Discover, and Recover

Data can be scary but it doesn’t have to be. As a researcher, we are concerned with things like validity, reliability, sample size, and statistical significance among other things, but data needs to be valuable to those who are using it in practice. Data may present frightening findings, but it can be helpful in facilitating discussions on improving practice and student …

Marvelous Cornelius

Closing the Diversity Gap in Children’s Books

Here are the facts: people of color make up 37% of the U.S. population, but only 10% of children’s books published in the past 21 years include multicultural content. That is a disconcerting gap. We know that children benefit from seeing people like themselves in the books they read, which means that for an organization working in urban schools, CLI’s collections …

From the Field: Message Time Plus & Building Reading Skills

This article is the first of an ongoing series entitled From the Field. Short, inspiring and heart-warming classroom anecdotes contributed by our professional developers as they work in classrooms across the country. Names of teachers and students have been changed. In the beginning of the school year, little Julie was a new kindergartner in Ms. Smith’s classroom. Julie was always …