The Kenneth Rainin Foundation

In 2013, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation provided $500,000 in early learning grants. In 2016, the Foundation will invest over $5 million in young children. An investment will be made in California’s new grade level, Transitional Kindergarten (TK), which requires new commitments to the workforce. In a multi-year, multi- partner initiative, the Foundation will provide evidenced-based professional development that includes training, coaching, child progress monitoring, and environmental assessment to increase the quality of instruction for 730 TK children in Oakland by Spring 2015. Three assessments will be used to track progress, inform instruction and demonstrate outcomes. The foundation deeply believes that the quality of literacy opportunities has a profound impact on children’s trajectories.

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation is enriching Oakland preschool/TK classrooms with the SEEDS of Early Learning and the replication of Minnesota Reading Corps. By Spring 2015, the investment will serve almost 1,000 children and track outcomes towards children securing predictive skills: alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, and book and print rules. Planning is currently underway to invest deeply in charter and district school communities in Oakland to build a birth-through-eight system. Schools will provide literacy rich opportunities for children from the time they are born until they are reading successfully. In partnership with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the District, the Foundation’s commitment will fund a new Deputy Superintendent of Early Learning, support the development of a birth-12th grade citywide data system, and plan for the full utilization and expansion of subsidized preschool.