Conference replay: Early childhood education and literacy

Of more than 33,700 Iowa third-graders who took the Iowa Assessment in 2015-16, 23.1 percent were not proficient in reading.

According to the Iowa Department of Education, that benchmark is critical because after third grade "students are expected to go beyond 'learning to read' and begin 'reading to learn.'" But state funding shortfalls have lead to cuts in supplemental reading programs.

At Iowa Ideas 2017, September 20-22 in Cedar Rapids, panelists shared success stories in reading initiatives from across Iowa, policy ideas and thoughts on what work still needs to be done.

Panelists included:

• Deborah Reed, director of the Iowa Reading Research Center

• Carolyn Jons, co-founder of Raising Readers Story County

• Linda Fandel, special assistant for education in the Office of the Governor

• David Tilly, deputy director and administrator of division of learning and results, Iowa Department of Education

• Karen Lewis, senior manager for education at the United Way of East Central Iowa

• Beth Malicki, program leader of Kids on Course

• Moderator: Molly Duffy, Gazette K-12 education reporter

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Listen to the full replay to hear:

• How and why third grade was established as a critical benchmark for reading progress

• How the achievement gap impacts early childhood learning — and what can help those students succeed

• The results that several initiatives around Iowa are seeing

• The brain science behind literacy