DC Action just delivered a letter to Mayor Gray urging him to sign on to the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The push is to get all children across the country and in the District reading proficiently by the third grade. Why? Because research shows that if children are not proficient by the end of the third grade, no amount of remediation can catch them up.

In the District, 44% of all fourth graders failed to reach proficiency on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test in 2009. We need to change that if we are serious about getting more of our young people to graduate, go to college and compete in the job market.

March is National Reading Month. We urge Mayor Gray to use this opportunity to focus the city's attention on this critical issue as part of his Birth to 24 education agenda. If we don't get it right by the third grade, we may never get a second chance.

A report from the Casey Foundation, "Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters," includes four major recommendations:
• Create an aligned system of education and care from birth to third grade.
• Encourage parents to be “co-producers” of good outcomes for their children.
• Prioritize results-driven initiatives that transform low-performing schools.
• End the problems of chronic absence and summer learning loss.