Georgia Early Literacy Acts already gaining traction

The Rollins Center for Language & Literacy (Rollins) is partnering with state, regional and local agencies, districts, schools, businesses, and nonprofits to advance universal literacy from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy when auditory channels are forming through early learning, literacy, and building the foundations for deep reading brain construction.

These partnerships expand on Rollins’ work with the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) as a part of the statewide initiative in support of Georgia Early Literacy Acts (SB48, HB538, SB211).

GEORGIA EDUCATORS ADVANCING LITERACY: UPDATE

Teachers have begun training through Georgia-grown Cox Campus and Georgia Literacy Academy.
Rollins’ professional development learning platform, Cox Campus, is completely free for ALL, made possible by a decade of investment from Georgia philanthropies and in collaboration with the country’s top literacy experts.

Through GaDOE’s Georgia Literacy Academy: As of April 15, close to 15,000 educators are enrolled in the first structured literacy module on Georgia Literacy Academy, created with Cox Campus. To date, there are more than 40,000 course enrollments and 29,000 completions across the 9 professional learning modules. The Georgia Literacy Academy has already generated a value of $4.3M (based on fair market value) at no cost to districts or teachers.

On Cox Campus: Since 2014, 95,000 Georgia educators have completed 305,500 courses on Cox Campus online generating a value of $45.8M, free to Georgia districts and teachers. Globally, educators have completed over 600,000 Cox Campus courses, worth $90M, made free to all.

Within District implementation through the Rollins Navigation Cohort: Supported by GaDOE, ten Districts are part of a two-year Navigation Cohort, designed to deepen the knowledge, skills and agency of teachers and leaders through coursework, professional learning communities, and coaching. These ten districts include more than 1,800 educators and more than 20,000 K3 students.

2023 Georgia Milestones revealed Marietta City Schools’ 3^rd grade reading scores grew five times greater than the State of Georgia through a citywide effort, Literacy & Justice for All, which began in 2021. The GaDOE Navigation Cohort builds on that success.

As Literacy Leaders: 387 Georgia education leaders participated in yearlong a Professional Learning Community (PLC), representing 141 Georgia counties/districts/charters, taking structured literacy courses and participating in live, online Knowledge Building for Leaders, co-facilitated with GaDOE and the Rollins Center.

CREATING LANGUAGE-CENTERED ECOSYSTEMS FOR CHILDREN THROUGH EARLY CARE AND LEARNING

After more than a decade of partnering with early care and learning centers across Atlanta and Marietta to successfully implement language-centered ecosystems that build the foundations for literacy, Rollins is expanding efforts and impact with the YMCA, Sheltering Arms, Emily Lembeck Center (Marietta City Schools), Quality Care for Children (QCC), and Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS) / Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive (PAACT), affecting more than 3,000 children.

Collaborating with Mayor Andre Dickens and the Rotary Club of Atlanta, the Rollins Center partnership created the Early Childhood Champions Mayor’s Early Literacy Award, awarding stipends to teachers for completing language and literacy professional development on Cox Campus. In the first year, more than 300 teachers completed 1,120 courses at no cost; an estimated $168,000 in value invested in our city’s early learning professionals. The credential/award through Cox Campus is also being implemented across Alabama and Ohio.

TALK WITH ME BABY

Each year, more than 3,100 babies are born at Grady Hospital, and every child goes home with a family who has been coached in “language nutrition” through the integration of Grady’s Talk With Me Baby (TWMB).

Grady Hospital became the flagship birthing hospital for Talk With Me Baby in 2017. This public health initiative focuses on the importance of language in the earliest stages of children’s brain and social development. Grady nursing staff have embedded the principles and practices of TWMB, making language nutrition central to all patient and family interactions.

With funds designated by the James M. Cox Foundation, the Brazelton Touchpoints Center of Boston Children’s Hospital was contracted by the Rollins Center and Grady Hospital to complete an evaluation of the implementation and potential impact of TWMB at Grady Hospital outpatient prenatal clinics, inpatient maternity department (including Labor and Delivery and Mother-Baby units), and the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU).

Below is a summary of evaluation outcomes (Link to Summary):

93% of staff reported TWMB training prepared them Very or Extremely Well for family coaching
81% of mothers felt prepared to make decisions about supporting their baby’s brain, language, and social development
79% of children whose parents received TWMB coaching were identified as having typically developing communication behaviors with scores well above the cutoff on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire

Every child needs adults who have the knowledge, skills and agency across the sciences of healthy brain development, language acquisition, and literacy. If you are interested in learning more about how your community can leverage the free, online Cox Campus to collectively advance literacy and justice for all, please email info@coxcampus.org.