E3: Elevate Early Education is one year in on tackling the reading crisis as our next big problem to solve.
Too many of our children cannot read. In fact, 40% cannot read proficiently by third grade, and in some communities, it is even worse. Reading by third grade is a predictor of academic and life success. When our children don’t have the basic skills to read, they will struggle in K-12, higher education, the workforce and life. They are 4x more likely not to graduate from high school. Today there are students sitting in classrooms without the basic skills they need to succeed.
That is why E3, along with our strategic partners, have worked to educate, innovate and increase equitable access to books.
We are incredibly thankful for the unwavering support of our board, coalition, donors, foundations and strategic partners. We could not do this work without YOU. As we approach the year’s end, consider making a gift to E3 to support our innovative initiatives to help every child read by third grade.
Your gift will help ignite a love of learning and reading for the first eight years of a child’s life.
Please make your gift today!
Your support matters. Together, we have:
Raised Awareness
- Launched the Kids Need to Read Campaign in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia, Richmond and Roanoke.
- Built the Kids Need to Read Coalition with over 8,000 followers.
- Partnered with community leaders, policymakers, school divisions and the Youngkin administration to curate nine “The Right to Read” documentary screening events.
- Provided families with activities to help their child at home.
Educated
- Advocated for literacy policy initiatives during the 2024 General Assembly session and secured $21m to:
- Implement the Virginia Literacy Act (curriculum, professional development, coaching and technical assistance).
- Fund the Virginia Language and Literacy Screener System (VALLSS) to understand the skills children have, detect reading difficulties early and provide strategies to children and families in preschool to third grade.
- Over 2,000 emails were sent in support of our literacy policy initiatives by business, civic, philanthropic, families and school leaders.
Increased Equitable Access
- Sparked a love of reading in young children and families through the passage of the bill HB 1075 with bipartisan support. This bill sets up the structure for a state program and the shared 50% public-private match for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Virginia (DPIL). There is a unique partnership between The Dollywood Foundation, Virginia Department of Education, the legislature, local program partners and E3 as the state partner. E3 will help to grow, promote and sustain DPIL. Our goal is to exponentially increase access to age-appropriate, quality books from 68,000+ to 300,000 in a few years.
- Partnered with Malcolm Mitchell, a Super Bowl champion and children’s author who played for the New England Patriots. We collaborated with Title I schools across Virginia to host five READing Rallies and hand out over 2,000+ of The Magician’s Hat books to students through generous sponsors.
- Built The New E3 School as a high-quality implementation model with 10 years of data and outcomes to prove that when ALL children from every zip code have access to quality education, they will enter kindergarten ready academically and socially. Over 5,000 publicly funded classrooms use our STREAMin3 model developed by UVA in our school. It is the most widely used early childhood curricula in Virginia.
With gratitude,
Lisa Howard
President & CEO Chair
Lara Major
Chair