Tackling Summer Learning Loss in Genessee County, Michigan

Recently, we had the chance to sit down with JaNel Jamerson (Director) to get the scoop on how the Flint and Genesee Literacy Network (FGLN) is using Results-Based Accountability to help the county’s most vulnerable learners.

According to FGLN, 29% of Genesee County 4th graders are below the State of Michigan’s standard in reading. Up to 10% of adult residents live with low literacy skills. Many residents have trouble understanding bus schedules, reading restaurant menus, and even filling out job applications.

One contributing factor to these statistics is “summer learning loss” – a “phenomenon where young people lose academic skills over the summer.” When it comes to the loss of reading skills, low-income students of color are at a greater disadvantage. “Every summer, low-income youth lose two to three months in reading while their higher-income peers make slight gains.”(National Summer Learning Association)

While the statistics are certainly alarming, there are reasons to be optimistic. For starters, there is a growing library of “what works” to turn the curve on summer learning loss. According to the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, “Studies show 6-week summer learning programs can produce statistically significant gains in reading performance.” The campaign has also identified 8 programming strategies to boost this positive effect. One of these strategies is “rigorous evaluation of implementation and impact.”

This is exactly what FGLN is doing through their implementation of the Results-Based Accountability framework and the Clear Impact Scorecard. The organization uses these tools to streamline and improve program-level performance, track community wellbeing, and ultimately work towards closing the reading achievement gap and improving literacy throughout the community. According to Jamerson, the organization is already noticing the positive effect that these tools have had. Some of these include:

  • Work is more effectively organized
  • Decision-making is simplified
  • Funders and service providers have an easier time demonstrating impact

For more insight, watch the interview video above or read the full transcript:

What is your name and title?

I’m JaNel Jamerson, I serve as the Director of the Flint and Genessee Literacy Network in Genessee County Michigan.

How many years of RBA experience do you have?

So we’re just over a one year of RBA implementation.

What successes has your organization had implementing RBA?

I think one of the major successes that we’ve had in year one is clearly defining what the Results are that we expected to see for our community. Initially we worked from a very high level – we called it a “B-HAG,” a Big Hairy Audacious Goal of 100% literacy and 100% community engagement. But really honing in on those four results helped us to kind of organize our work in a way that we had trouble with initially.

What inspired your organization to adopt RBA?

We launched a six month planning process and we went through the entire process, but we realized at the end of it that we didn’t have a clear system of measurement to really demonstrate population level or program level change. So in 2015, the Network became the local lead for the Campaign for Grade Level Reading in Flint. A part of that – the Campaign was hosting a Clear Impact Scorecard pilot and we joined the pilot and connected with an amazing consultant who really helped to put us on track as related to measurement.

Can you give an example of a “curve” you’ve successfully turned using RBA?

One of the major indicators that we’re going to be targeting is related to summer learning. I’m really being intentional with working through the process of where we will make the greatest impact and how are we best poised to make that impact. Our Youth Literacy Action Team landed at summer learning. They’ve developed a comprehensive summer learning strategy that focuses on access, outreach, and coordination. We will really be developing out a solid set of performance measures that we measure across participating programs.

What were the biggest challenges working with RBA?

I think that there are anxieties related to data overall. And so anytime you’re talking about measurement, I think that there is initially just apprehension. But I think that what the Results-Based Accountability framework has helped us to do is take what seems to be very very complex and put it into the frame in which it actually is – which is very simple, common-sense type of work. Starting at what you want to see and then working back to the steps that it will take for you to get there. Again, it’s really re-framed the way that we’re approaching the conversation in our community.

How is the Clear Impact Scorecard being used in the work that you do?

For us, it helps to keep how we’re moving at the front of the conversation as well. So we can use that tool to pull it up at the front of a meeting and begin talking about what is the progress that we’ve made toward these results so far and where are areas of improvement. We get to talk about who are the partners that are really leading the way in our community and really making progressive strides. And also able to talk about which barriers are existing within our community that impede progress of other providers. The Scorecard itself, particularly in being able to tell the story behind the curve, has been critical. With the service provision community, people are just attached to outcomes and to metrics. “So we have to meet 90% of this or we won’t be successful.” But the scorecard helps us to say that “if we didn’t meet that 90%, what were the conditions existing within the community that impacted that?” The Scorecard takes the pressure off the funding community to prove impact. It takes the pressure off the service provision community, because even if they’re not successful, they have contributed significantly to the knowledge base of the community. While we don’t often know exactly what works in a program that’s not successful, we definitely know what does not work, and that is equally valuable.

What advice would you give to someone who is new to RBA?

Be confident. Really take it on. When we think about Results-Based Accountability, it seems that it’s a very very meticulous framework, but in practice it’s actually very very simple to do. So be confident in that. I definitely encourage communities to fall in love with the problem, right? Never ever ever be afraid to discuss the problems openly, because the commitment to addressing those problems is what’s really going to be able to make that population level change. Lead with data and really make sure that people understand the way in which data can be used. I think it could be used as a tool or as a weapon. And on either side of that, we see pros and cons. But if we can really get a common understanding of how data can be used to inform population-level change, and people are comfortable with that, I think that real change can happen.

Why is focusing on results important when building sustainable communities?

The Literacy Network is a Coalition that is collectively joined behind improving the life outcomes of the most vulnerable learners in our community. That’s in no way a small commitment. Because we’re talking about the most vulnerable learners in our community, we can’t afford to allow any level of programming to be harmful to those learners. So being able to look at what’s actually working and how are those things working in the life-context of learners is critical, not just in the context of this initiative but for why this initiative exists, which is to improve those life outcomes.