What is Raising A Reader’s mission?

To build early literacy through family engagement.

Who does RAR serve?

RAR reaches more than 17,000 children ages 0-6 and their families in three Bay Area counties: San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa. RAR programs focus on serving children at greatest risk of falling behind: children living in poverty, English language learners, and children of color.

What is early literacy and why is it important?

RAR defines early literacy as everything a child knows about reading and writing before he or she can read or write. By age 3, children in low-income households have heard 30 million fewer words than their peers. This word gap has a profound effect on school readiness. Children from poor families enter kindergarten 12-14 months behind - a gap that, without intervention, continues to widen as the child moves through school. Children who do not read proficiently by the end of third grade are 4 times more likely to leave school without a diploma than children who are reading at grade level, and people who fail to complete high school by age 20 are 50% more likely to have sporadic employment and 7 times more likely to be persistently poor as adults. Even if there are books in these homes (and 61% of low income households lack books entirely), low literacy levels and home language limitations among adults are a powerful barrier to regular book-sharing. RAR works with children and the adults who care for them to build early literacy skills before they can fall behind.

By “adults who care for them,” do you mean a child’s parents?

Yes - but not just their parents! RAR wants every adult who has regular and meaningful interaction with a child to have the same tools as a well-trained educator. We provide ongoing support and training to parents/caregivers, childcare providers (including those who operate small daycares in their home), and teachers. We refer to teachers and childcare providers as educators to acknowledge the critical role they play in shaping a child’s future.

What type of support does RAR offer parents and educators?

RAR provides interactive Read Aloud demonstrations and workshops for parents, caregivers, and educators to encourage regular book-sharing and give them the tools to target specific areas of growth and development with their children. RAR also provides accessible materials to parents and caregivers with tips for reinforcing early literacy skill sets such as vocabulary, phonological awareness, self-regulation, critical thinking, social-emotional development, and print awareness both during and outside of book-sharing.

How does RAR achieve its mission?

Raising A Reader’s programming is rooted in the belief that early literacy and strong family bonds can break the cycle of poverty and build brighter futures for children. Both strategies are effective on their own, but when approached as a unit and with strong partnerships in the community, the results can be greater and more lasting. To that end, RAR currently offers three programs: the Red Bag Rotation Program, the Community Literacy Program, and the new SEEDS of Early Literacy Program.

How does the Red Bag Rotation Program work?

The red bag program provides children from birth through second grade and the adults who care for them (families, childcare providers, and preschool teachers) with high-quality, age- and culturally-appropriate children’s books in multiple languages, along with tools to get the most out of each book-sharing experience. Every RAR site has a set of bright red bags, each containing four books, with no two bags being the same. The books are laminated to withstand heavy use and make cleaning easy - RAR books typically last five years at a site, serving multiple generations.

Each week, children at the site take home a red bag to share with their adults at home. The following week, they bring it back and exchange it for a different bag from the site’s set. This rotating schedule expands the number of books a family interacts with over the course of a year to 100+ while keeping the weekly book-sharing load at a manageable four books per week.

RAR currently delivers the red bag rotation program in more than 800 childcare (in-home and centers) and preschool sites in San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties, with 100 new classrooms scheduled to launch this year. More than 15,000 children and families receive their red bag each week through these sites.

What happens when children leave the RAR site and move on from the program?

As a strategy to introduce a wider variety of books into the homes of RAR families and to ensure that book-sharing continues to be a regular part of their lives once children move on to elementary school, families with children who graduate from the program are introduced to their local library, where they sign up for a library card and the children receive a blue “My Raising A Reader Library Book Bag” to store their library books. RAR works with local librarians, building skills through workshops and trainings, so that librarians can recognize the blue bag and offer extra support to those children and their families.

Why do you call it book-sharing instead of reading?

If families have books in the home (and 61% of low-income families do not), adults can be reluctant to share books with their children because of their own low literacy levels or lack of comfort with a foreign language. RAR’s emphasis on book-sharing expands the definition of reading beyond actual words on a page to include pictures and outside objects/experiences, inviting parents to use books as an opportunity to enjoy precious moments of joy and closeness with their child. Parents are encouraged to use the books as a tool to explore stories, words, and the world around them - and most of all, to have fun - regardless of their own comfort with reading in general or any one language in particular.

How many languages are represented in the red bags?

RAR has books available in 10 languages. English, Spanish, and Chinese are the languages with the greatest demand. Educators at RAR sites help determine the languages represented in their bags to ensure the best match for the children.

What books are in the red bags?

RAR books are high quality, age-appropriate, culturally diverse, and available in multiple languages. In addition, books in the RAR collection reinforce critical early literacy skills. Some favorites from the collection include: Llama Llama Red Pajama, The Snowy Day, Where the Wild Things Are, 1-2-3 to the Zoo, and Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed.

Why doesn’t RAR just give books to children?

The weekly ritual of receiving a new red bag builds excitement and keeps book-sharing fresh for both children and adults, which results in higher rates of book sharing for longer periods of time. Through the red bag rotation, children take home more than 100 books over the course of a program year - many more than we could provide to each family individually. In addition, RAR distributes thousands of books directly to families through book drives and at family workshops and community events to build their home libraries.

The Red Bag Rotation Program uses childcare sites and schools as hubs. What about children who aren’t in care or attending preschool?

We asked ourselves that question, too, and recently launched a Community Literacy Program to reach children and families who are not enrolled in the red bag program and who may not be enrolled in childcare or preschool at all. RAR partners with community-based organizations serving children outside of the school environment to provide books, parent workshops, educator trainings, and community literacy programming. Possible target areas for growth include hospitals, family shelters, and existing centers for public benefit distribution.

To reach an even wider audience, RAR also provides early literacy training through our website with materials and videos available in English, Spanish, and Chinese.

What is the SEEDS of Early Literacy Program?

In the spring of 2014, RAR was approached by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation to bring the proven SEEDS of Early Literacy program to the Bay Area. SEEDS is an evidence-based model developed by Kate Horst that relies on intensive coaching to support educators in creating a literacy- and math-rich classroom environment from the moment children are dropped off until they are picked up by an adult at the end of the day.

This partnership brings intensive SEEDS coaching to educators in several Oakland district and charter Transitional Kindergartens, as well as three community-based preschools in West Oakland. We are implementing the SEEDS program this fall, which includes the establishment of a Reading Corps tutor in some classrooms to provide students with intensive, one-on-one SEEDS support. You can learn more about the results of implementing the SEEDS program in Minnesota here and/or watch a video summarizing the results here.

How many books does RAR circulate each year?

56,000 through the red bag program, plus an additional 3,000+ books that we give directly to families to build their home libraries.

How many nonprofit partners does RAR work with?

125 – and growing! In addition, RAR is currently recognized as the premier early literacy partner for both San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts.

What are your results?

In 2014, RAR families reported that:

• 94% increased or maintained the frequency of their weekly reading routines with their children
• 70% read more interactively with their children

Educators reported that:

• 90% reported that RAR helped to improve Kindergarten readiness
• 89% said it increased the frequency and duration of time parents spent sharing books with their child
• 97% stated that it improved family engagement in their classroom

What can I do to help?

The best way to make a difference in the lives of the children and families RAR serves is to make a financial gift in an amount that is meaningful to you. RAR will put your gift to immediate use, putting books in children’s homes and giving the adults in their lives the tools to get the most out of each and every bedtime story. The second best thing you can do is to tell a friend about our work - or better yet - bring them along to a volunteer or other RAR event so they can get to know us.

If you or someone you know has a young child in their life, you might be interested in our Red Bags Not Goody Bags campaign for birthday parties. We also offer giftmarks that you can give to someone to let them know that you have made a gift to RAR in their name (these make great host and hostess gifts!)

Speaking of volunteering, can I volunteer with RAR?

Absolutely! We offer a variety of activities for families, groups, and individuals. Click here to view our current volunteer menu.

How many people work at RAR?

RAR accomplishes all of the above with a staff of just 19 people. Meet them all here.