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You are here: Home1 / About2 / Early Literacy Awareness
  • Early Literacy Awareness Cleveland

Early Literacy Awareness

We are leading a number of initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of early literacy and get books into the hands of all children.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library:

A book gifting program that mails a brand new age appropriate book to enrolled children every month from birth until their 5th birthday. Learn more.

#WordGapCLE:

Is an awareness campaign that focuses on the link between a child’s academic success and their verbal interaction with their parents and caregivers before age 3. Learn more.

Community Initiatives We Support

SPARK Cuyahoga

Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK), a home-based, kindergarten readiness program for three and four-year old children, focuses on helping pre-school age children become ready for kindergarten by helping parents in their role as their child’s first teacher. The program provides individual in-home tutoring sessions with parent partners, lessons and activities based on Ohio Early Learning Content Standards, educational supplies, health screenings, assessments and referrals, and assistance with the transition to kindergarten.

SPARK is an initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and is currently offered in seven counties in Ohio. SPARK Cuyahoga program services are provided under the umbrella of Invest in Children, Cuyahoga County’s public-private partnership serving young children and families.

How The Literacy Cooperative Supports SPARK

Funders
  • Invest In Children
  • United Way
  • Cleveland Foundation
  • The Stocker Foundation
  • The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation

STEP

STEP (Supporting Tutors Engaging Pupils) is a structured tutoring program designed to help build reading and language skills in K-3 students who are below grade level. The goal of STEP is to provide skill-based instruction to improve literacy outcomes by helping students acquire the skills necessary for literacy success.

STEP uses a combination of two research based programs: Ready Readers and Book Buddies. Ready Readers are books with skill based text designed to address the individual needs and abilities of each child. Book Buddies provides the structure for one-on-one, scripted lessons based on assessment. Students receive structured lessons consisting of both re-reading and new reading, word play (phonics) and a writing exercise to practice the phonics skills learned during the lesson. Tutors follow a scripted, research based, four-part lesson plan that supports the development of fluency (through re-reading), vocabulary development, comprehension and word knowledge (through reading new text), alphabetic principle and decoding skills (phonics activities) and writing (writing activities). Lessons are delivered for thirty minutes twice a week. Each participating child is assessed to determine appropriate placement in the scope and sequence associated with the program and is assessed at regular intervals to ensure he/she receives individualized support to address specific learning gaps.

Given the documented importance of learning to read, a pilot of STEP was launched, beginning with first grade students at Marion-Sterling School in Cleveland during the 2010-2011 school year. The lesson plans are scripted so tutors with no background in education can deliver a comprehensive and meaningful instructional lesson. Tutors provide ongoing feedback after each lesson through a journaling system and children are monitored to be sure lessons are delivered at the appropriate skill level (emergent, beginner, or fluent).

Following a successful pilot, STEP has been offered at select schools within the Maple Heights, Euclid and Cleveland Metropolitan School Districts.

Funders
  • Martha Holden Jennings Foundation
  • The Stocker Foundation
  • The Hershey Foundation
  • Public Policy & Advocacy
  • Early Literacy Awareness
    • Imagination Library
    • Imagination Library Resources
  • 2GEN COMMUNITY
    • 2020 Summit
    • 2019 Summit
    • 2018 Summit
  • Professional Development

The Literacy Cooperative

1422 Euclid Avenue
Suite 248
Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: 216.776.6180

Monday-Friday: 8:00 – 4:30

Events

  • Free, Cool Online Science Tools for Contextualized Learning, 2/19/21January 20, 2021 - 12:49 pm
  • Using Read Alouds to Create Joyful and Thoughtful Readers, 1/29/21October 30, 2020 - 10:45 am

News

  • The Literacy Cooperative’s Year in ReviewDecember 1, 2020 - 10:58 am
  • How to get free books for your childSeptember 30, 2020 - 1:29 pm

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