Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, Feb. 9th at 3:30 EST, The Campaign for Grade Level Reading will showcase Dr. Barbara Nemko, Napa County Superintendent of Schools and Footsteps2Brilliance, to discuss how Napa County and other organizations throughout the nation have used technology to prepare children for kindergarten and stem learning loss caused by the pandemic.
The Campaign is a collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, states and communities across the nation to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. The Campaign focuses on an important predictor of school success and high school graduation—grade-level reading by the end of third grade.
During this presentation, Dr. Nemko will share her education success in Napa County Schools, specifically highlighting data showing that her English Language Learners using Footsteps2Brilliance have significantly outperformed other students in California on standardized tests. She also will share information on how she integrated education technology 10 years ago into her early education classes. This prepared students, teachers, and parents to continue learning when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ilene Rosenthal, Founder and CEO of Footsteps2Brilliance, will discuss how nationwide organizations such as the United Way and First 5 are scaling early literacy using the Footsteps2Brilliance mobile technology platform. For example, the United Way of North Central MA created a winter reading challenge, where more than 1,230 students participated.
“Ten years ago I brought Footsteps2Brilliance into my district because I saw that each year students were entering school with fewer and fewer skills. Closing the achievement gap prior to kindergarten is an essential goal for public education. Students who arrive at school without oral English language and literacy skills quickly fall further behind when learning to read. Footsteps2Brilliance is a breakthrough program that has the potential to transform public education, especially for English learners and students of poverty,” says Dr. Barbara Nemko.
Access the webinar here: Campaign for Grade Level Reading, Learning Tuesdays
About Campaign for Grade Level Reading
The Campaign is a collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, states and communities across the nation to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship.
About Napa County
Napa County is a small, rural county about 1 hour north of San Francisco. The county is known worldwide for its wine and hospitality industries, and is thought of as a place of great wealth. Most of the residents of the county, however, are not winery owners and our student population is majority minority, with 57% of K-12 students from Spanish as a first-language families. Among our preschool students that population is 77%.
About Footsteps2Brilliance, Inc.
Footsteps2Brilliance, Inc. is the breakthrough early learning platform that accelerates early achievement by uniting the power of mobile gaming technology with the latest in cognitive research. Footsteps2Brilliance provides enticing, interactive, 24/7 learning experiences that digitally link school and home to give students the edge they need for success in school today and the world tomorrow.
