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Meet Michelle Sioson Hyman, RAR’s Senior Vice President, Programs and Partnerships
Where are you from originally? Where are you currently located? I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio and I currently live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Let us know a fun fact about you? I used to be a birth doula. What do you do for fun? What are some of your hobbies? I love to be outdoors — hiking, climbing, walking ...
Leveraging public funding streams for Raising a Reader Programs: Supporting Learning Recovery and Literacy
Raising A Reader Aligns with Several Public Funding Streams School districts have had and continue to have the herculean task of identifying strategies that can support recovery from the learning loss that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This school year, school districts have a better understanding of just how much educational progress in reading has been lost since 2020 ...
A Year Full of Gratitude: Thank You!
Before we look ahead to an exciting new year full of possibilities, let’s pause to express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who have helped build brighter futures for so many young children and families all across the US. Children and Families: At the heart of our mission are the children and families we serve. We are grateful to be ...
Meet Shelly Coulter, RAR’s Senior Accountant
Where are you from originally? Where are you currently located? I’m from Soquel, CA (Santa Cruz area), and now live in San Jose, CA (Silicon Valley). Let us know a fun fact about you? Before getting into accounting, I used to work in Journalism and I worked at a few radio stations. What do you do for fun? What are some ...
Partners Spotlight Series
Read the Room – Using Place and Space to Facilitate Reading
Leveraging technology, family reading and school readiness to improve healthy outcomes for children Caption: Worldreader’s BookSmart app and the Raising a Reader organization are helping to virtually fill the shelves of little libraries in “Kinder Ready” pediatric clinics. By Kristen Walter, Director of US Programs, Worldreader Every clinic waiting room has one: the frazzled adult with several kids in tow, ...
Summer Reading is Here. Get in Shape. Stay in Shape.
Reading over summer vacation may not be a priority for children, but parents and teachers should make it one. Why? Summer reading is critical for students to defeat summer learning loss and retain knowledge and skills learned in the previous school year and help prepare them for the upcoming school year. Students who don’t read are at risk of ...
Webinars
Can we talk about Bruno?
By Michelle Torgerson, President and CEO, Raising a Reader Can we talk about Bruno?! Is Encanto’s soundtrack playing on loop at your house? It is at mine, and we almost have all the songs memorized! The movie tells the story of the Madrigal family as they navigate their special powers within their community. So many people—young and old—are feeling seen ...
Empowering Parents to Engage Through Books
Empowering Parents to Engage Through Books As we enter into National Book Month, all of us at Raising a Reader were once again heartened by the Washington Post article late this summer, “How To Get Kids To Look Away From Their Screens and Take Pleasure in Books.” While we still find it discouraging that it appeared in the Lifestyle section ...
Press Releases
Investing in Summer Reading Programs: A Crucial Step towards Learning Recovery and Social Emotional Learning, Experts Say
Experts are emphasizing the critical role of summer reading programs in promoting learning recovery and fostering social emotional development. Investing in these programs has become an urgent necessity to address the widening educational gaps and support the development of our students. The disruptions caused by the pandemic have had a profound impact on education, with many students experiencing learning loss ...
We’re joining forces with Lit Lab
We are thrilled to announce Raising a Reader is joining forces with Lit Lab’s incredible community committed to serving children and their families, and are accepting the donation of LitLab’s kidappolis, designed for caregivers to support early learning in literacy, math, and science. The bilingual English/Spanish kidappolis app is is aligned with RAR’s mission to engage caregivers in a routine ...