Big Lift Participation and School Entry Indicators: Findings for the 2016–2017 Kindergarten Class

• When comparing demographically similar children, Big Lift preschoolers were more likely to be kindergartenready than children who did not go to preschool at all. Big Lift and non–Big Lift preschoolers were equally likely to start school kindergarten-ready. Key findings San Mateo County, California, is a largely affluent, highly educated community that is known for being home to the technology industry—Silicon Valley—and prestigious universities. However, based on a statewide assessment of student achievement, approximately 45 percent of third-graders in the county are not reading at a proficient level (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, undated). Children who do not read proficiently by third grade, compared with their peers who read proficiently at grade level, are significantly more likely to perform below reading grade level at later ages and to eventually drop out of high school (Hernandez, 2011). In an effort to improve student achievement, the County of San Mateo, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), and the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) launched The Big LiftTM (referred to hereafter as Big Lift) in 2012 to boost children’s reading proficiency in San Mateo County. Big Lift is a collective impact collaborative led by three lead organizations and more than 300 community organizations committed to developing and implementing four programmatic pillars to improve third-grade reading proficiency, particularly in 11 school districts with third-grade reading levels below the county average.1 The four pillars of the initiative, which we explain in detail later in the report, are: