Seeding Success and partners recognized by nonprofit organization for consistently improving outcomes and closing gaps for county’s 130,000 students
CINCINNATI, OH — StriveTogether, a national nonprofit working to improve education for every child, today named Shelby County, Tenn., as the seventh community to receive the highest designation for achieving better results for children and youth using a data-driven approach.
“This incredible recognition is a result of the unwavering commitment our partners, schools, funders and leadership share to improve outcomes in Memphis,” said Mark Sturgis, executive director of Seeding Success. “Our hope is that we now use this opportunity to accelerate progress toward changing systems and achieving equitable outcomes for all students.”
Seeding Success and its partners have:
- Reduced chronic absenteeism by 27 percent across 15 Memphis schools by working with children and their parents to encourage class attendance.
- Created a multi-year plan to reduce chronic absenteeism after data analysis found that 30,000 students were chronically absent. The state of Tennessee adopted the partnership’s chronic absence measure.
- Increased the number of kindergarten-ready students at Porter-Leath from 33 percent to 82 percent in 3 ½ years by ensuring teachers have access to student-level academic data 15 days after assessments have been administered.
- Raised scores on the Measure of Academic Progress® reading assessment by 14 percent by enrolling more students in Porter-Leath’s pre-kindergarten programs, increasing the overall level of kindergarten readiness in Shelby County.
- Customized interventions with access to real-time, student-level data through a centralized database supported by Seeding Success. Emmanuel Center recognized regular attendance is critical for students to avoid losing literacy skills over the summer and has had success with strategies, like one student who improved by two reading levels over a seven-week period.
Communities in the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network like Shelby County commit to improving results for major milestones in a child’s life, from kindergarten readiness through postsecondary success and employment. They receive this top designation when they prove systems are changing and a majority of outcomes are improving or being maintained year after year. Shelby County is seeing improvements across three of the five StriveTogether cradle-to-career outcomes being tracked by Seeding Success.
“Shelby County has shown that a shared vision, a strong partnership and constant data use make a measurable difference in students’ lives,” StriveTogether President and CEO Jennifer Blatz said. “We’re proud to now recognize seven communities in different parts of the country for getting better results for children and youth from cradle to career.”
The other six communities with this top designation are Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (StrivePartnership), Dallas County (The Commit Partnership), Dayton/Montgomery County, Ohio (Learn to Earn Dayton), Portland/Multnomah County, Ore. (All Hands Raised), Racine County, Wis. (Higher Expectations for Racine County) and Tacoma, Wash. (Graduate Tacoma).
About StriveTogether
StriveTogether leads a national movement of nearly 70 communities to get better results in every child’s life. We coach and connect partners across the country to close gaps by using local data, especially for children of color and low-income children. Communities using our proven approach have seen measurable gains in kindergarten readiness, academic achievement and postsecondary success. The StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network reaches 10.4 million students, involves 10,800 organizations and has partners in 30 states and Washington, D.C.
About Seeding Success
Seeding Success is a diverse partnership representing K-12 institutions, not-for-profits, business, health, civic, faith and philanthropic organizations that are committed to fearlessly pursuing educational outcomes for children in Shelby County, Tenn.