Dive Brief:
- San Francisco Unified School District is rolling out a multigenerational early literacy project, that uses technology to include parents and family in helping students develop language skills.
- As part of the program, parents receive a family iPad and go through brief training modules on everything from how to set up the device to ways to help students improve their literacy.
- Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation, Startup: Education, has gotten involved in the project, helping to fund the iPads and supporting the family-driven approach.
Dive Insight:
The early literacy comes out of a vision the district developed. San Francisco Unified School District’s leaders, its board of education and a group of community members is imagining what its graduates will require for success in a decade. Among the things that top the list are bilingualism, being technologically fluent and ready for careers that don't exist yet.
The early literacy program is supposed to boost community involvement in students’ education while recognizing that many parents don't speak English as a first language. The literacy instruction allows students to become more literate in English and in other languages. In addition the digital-first approach to early literacy, the visioning process has also prompted the district to launch a mandated computer science program that, by 2025, will cover preschool through 12th grade.
