news release

Indian River County was recognized with Pacesetter Honors for its 2022-2023 work by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

Launched over a decade ago, the Campaign promotes early school success as an essential building block for more hopeful futures for children in economically challenged families and communities. The Campaign advances this mission by focusing on two critical inflection points: grade-level reading by the end of third grade and on-track development by the end of kindergarten. 

Both are critical to early school success, which predicts later school achievement and high school graduation, the first rung of the “success sequence” leading to employment and earnings. Reading by third grade is the most crucial determinant of individual and community prosperity. 

Indian River County has been recognized as a Pacesetter for 10 years in a row. During COVID, the world woke up to the importance of getting ready to read. 

“We’ve made a great deal of progress because of our community’s collaborative effort … to get kids to read on grade level by the end of the third grade, and this award is evidence that we are indeed ensuring that Indian River County is a leading, literacy capital of the nation,” said The Learning Alliance CEO and co-founder Barbara Hammond.

In 2023, the collective efforts of members of the Moonshot Community Action Network, and the public-private partnership with The Learning Alliance, the students, and the school district have earned an A and rank 5th in the state in 3rd-grade reading, having moved from 31st to 5th in the last four years.

MCAN has been recognized as a Pacesetter each year since the CGLR began recognizing communities for their work in literacy. However, this year is significant since there are systems in place that connect the Science of Reading to the district and community’s progress, clearly indicated by the increase in kindergarten readiness to 56% this year.

To learn more or to join the Moonshot Community Action Network to support our shared literacy goal, visit thelearningalliance.org.

About the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading:

Launched in 2010, the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a collaborative effort of funders, nonprofit partners, business leaders, government agencies, states and communities across the nation to ensure that many more children from low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career and active citizenship. Since its launch, CGLR has grown to include more than 350 communities, representing 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and two provinces in Canada — with 5,200+ local organizations and 510+ state and local funders (including 200+ United Ways).

About The Learning Alliance (TLA):

The Learning Alliance (TLA) is dedicated to creating a culture that enables 90% of third graders to read at grade level. It provides backbone support to the School District of Indian River County by providing afterschool, summer, and tutoring programs for County students and professional development and coaching for teachers. It also provides backbone support to our community leaders through the Moonshot Community Action Network (MCAN), a group of 125 organizations working to advance literacy in Indian River County in service of our Moonshot Moment campaign. Finally, TLA has a fleet of mobile vehicles that travel to local communities and families to provide books and literacy experiences in communities where people live.