Goals

Read Charlotte remains focused on creating enduring systems change that leads to more children reading at College and Career Ready by third grade. Given the impact of the pandemic, we’ve extended our organizational timeline from 2025 to 2030. We’ve also moved from a single goal to four staggered goals for reading and deadlines.

Goal 1

Increase the percentage of children who start kindergarten at grade-level expectations for reading from 33% in fall 2021 to 65% by fall 2026.

About 3,300 incoming CMS kindergartners (33%) in fall 2021 were on-level in reading. We need to increase up to about 3,200 more annually to be on-level to reach our 2026 target of 65%.

Goal 2

Increase the percentage of children who finish first grade at grade-level expectations for reading from 60% in spring 2022 to 80% by spring 2028.

About 6,000 CMS first graders (60%) in spring 2022 finished the year on-level in reading. We need to increase up to about 2,000 more annually to be on-level to reach our 2028 target of 80%.

Goal 3

Increase the percentage of children who finish third grade at College and Career Ready on the state reading assessment from 25% in spring 2022 to 80% by spring 2030.

About 2,700 CMS third graders (25%) in spring 2022 met CCR on the EOG. We need to increase up to about 5,900 more annually to be on-level to reach our 2030 target of 80%.

Goal 4

Increase the percentage of CMS fourth grade students who score Proficient on the NAEP* from 33% in 2022 to at least 65% by 2030.

About 3,500 CMS fourth graders (33%) in spring 2022 were proficient on the NAEP. We need to increase to about 3,400 more annually to be proficient to reach our 2030 target of 65%.

We must accomplish goals 1 and 2 first in order to accomplish goals 3 and 4.

*The standards for Proficient on the NAEP are currently higher than the standards for CCR for the state of North Carolina.

We believe 80% (or more) of our third graders can reach College and Career Ready in reading.

Here’s what it will take:

Our community using evidence-based insights from experimental studies on teaching reading – what works, what doesn’t, for whom, and by how much.

Our community working together to improve outcomes at two key leverage points – reading skills at school entry and the end of first grade – that greatly affect the odds of success in third grade. We also must work together to stop summer reading loss.

Our community focusing on both sides of the “science of reading” – the science of learning to read and the science of teaching reading.

Our community creating system change: shared ownership of goals, awareness and urgency to improve early literacy, cross-sector partnerships, aligned resources, and shared commitment to continuous improvement.