metrics
- 65
- point literacy perception gap
- 400k
- students affected
- 80
- nonprofit partnerships
In 2023, 96% of Fort Worth parents believed their children were reading at grade level, according to a poll by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The truth was far different. Only 31% actually could. This 65-point perception gap represented almost 200,000 children in Tarrant County, one of Texas’ largest counties, who were struggling while their parents had no idea there was a problem.
"It's not just a crisis for that kid, but it's a crisis for the city, " says Pete Geren, former U.S. Congressman and the 20th Secretary of the Army (appointed by President George W. Bush). “It's a moral crisis. We're failing these kids and setting them up for failure."
Parents in Tarrant County trusted grades, promotions, and the signals they received from schools. Parents often saw As and Bs on report cards, didn’t get alerted by teachers, and assumed everything was fine. The result was a city where most families believed literacy was on track, even though hundreds of thousands of students were far behind. This made Geren reach the simple conclusion that "democracy can solve big problems, but it can't solve a problem it doesn't know it has." Closing this perception gap became the starting point for a citywide literacy movement, with At Grade Level founded as one organization to help support and organize that work.
Geren’s history of public service and deep knowledge of the area made him the right candidate to address this issue. He started At Grade Level in 2023 as a partnership with local foundations to support parents, educators, and civic leaders working to address the literacy challenges in Tarrant County.
The problem: A literacy crisis hidden from families
Fort Worth’s literacy crisis didn’t just negatively impact families and students; it was also devastating for educators.
“One morning I had breakfast with the principal of one of the largest high schools in Fort Worth,” Geren recalls, “and the man who hosted the breakfast asked the principal, ‘What's the biggest problem in your school?’ And without hesitation, the principal said, ‘The kids that come to me in the 9th grade can’t read… It’s not that they can’t read well. They just can’t read.’”
What educators like the principal in Geren’s story know, and what the data shows, isn’t that students aren’t smart or intelligent enough. Many have actually spent years feeling embarrassed and ashamed, and as a result, have honed clever ways to hide their inability to read.
“One story that really hits home for me [is about] a woman who was having a birthday party for her nephew, who was turning 16,” Geren recounts. “This young man is an athlete, is in student government, and is an A-B student in his school. They passed around birthday cards, and he was opening up the cards… The aunt said, ‘Read some to us.’ And he said, ‘Oh, no, no, I don't want to do that. That's embarrassing.’ She insisted, and the young man started crying, and he said, ‘I can't read.’ That aunt has become a literacy activist as a result of that experience.”
Tarrant County serves more than 400,000 students and learners, and roughly half cannot read at grade level. The city spans 12 independent school districts with different policies and communication systems. And At Grade Level’s research linked low literacy rates to dropout rates, gang involvement, unemployment, homelessness, and incarceration.
The solution: Building trust and mobilizing a community
Through their work with At Grade Level and other community partners, Geren and his team learned that when parents understand their child’s true reading level, they take action. Families get involved at home, support classroom learning, and push for change in civic spaces. As Geren puts it, "When you let the parents know the truth, it changes their behavior. They support their child differently. They might get involved in political activity to try to improve the public schools."
The key to helping parents understand the reality of their child’s reading level came in delivering the news through people and organizations that parents already trusted. As part of a broader coalition, At Grade Level partnered with 80 nonprofit organizations, including the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Campfire, Parent Shield, and local PTAs. These groups already had strong relationships with families, which meant their voices were more likely to be heard.
Another key to At Grade Level’s success with parents was launching the “Have Your Child Read to You” campaign. They asked parents to spend five minutes listening to their children read aloud, creating thousands of moments where families saw their child’s actual reading level in real time in their own homes.
The organization also saw literacy as a civic challenge and treated it as such. Parents and community advocates, supported by At Grade Level and its partners, brought the issue to the Fort Worth City Council, which oversees all 12 school districts. Residents contacted their council members to demand action. City leaders responded with new policies and redirected funding to literacy programs.
Turning crisis into collaboration
One of At Grade Level's major initiatives addresses a critical moment: the parent-teacher meeting. The organization now employs a full-time staff member dedicated to preparing parents for constructive conversations with teachers, even providing scripts designed to reduce defensiveness on both sides.
"That's so important," Geren emphasizes. "If you present this information in a way that a parent feels shamed or a teacher feels shamed, one or both are going to be defensive, and nothing constructive is going to come out of it." Instead, At Grade Level frames these conversations as opportunities. Schools often offer services to help children catch up, such as tutoring programs, interventions, and resources, but if parents don’t know they need them, they’re of no use. When both sides approach the conversation constructively, things can change remarkably fast. According to Geren, small group tutoring, for instance, can achieve an entire year of reading growth in just three months.
"If people want to shame, if people want to blame, if people use this as a reason to get angry as opposed to engaging constructively," Geren says, "[then] we're not helping kids." It's this philosophy—turning a crisis into shared opportunity rather than mutual blame—that has enabled At Grade Level to help strengthen and support coalitions.
Results: Awareness that turned into real civic action
Eighteen months after their original poll in 2023, At Grade Level surveyed parents again, and they found that awareness had shifted from 96 percent of parents believing their child could read at grade level to 84 percent, reflecting the combined efforts of parents, educators, civic leaders, and community organizations. This change represents thousands of Tarrant County families who woke up to a crisis that was invisible just months before. "There's margins of error in polls," Geren notes, "but a 12 percent improvement shows we're making a difference."
City leadership noticed, too. The mayor became an active supporter, and council members received thank-you notes from residents and community advocates for taking action. Parent advocates stepped forward across schools and neighborhoods.
There is no single solution for 200,000 children who cannot read at grade level. Progress comes from many aligned actions: social media, coalition organizing, parent education, political advocacy, and community pressure. But together, these collective efforts create a citywide conversation that makes literacy impossible to ignore.
How NationBuilder supported a multi-stakeholder literacy campaign for young learners
Coordinating 400,000 students, engaging hundreds of thousands of parents, and maintaining relationships with 80 partner organizations requires strong digital infrastructure.
NationBuilder helped At Grade Level manage its role within a broader coalition of partners and keep communication aligned across many independent groups. The platform made it possible to:
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send targeted messages to parents, elected officials, and nonprofit partners.
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centralize engagement data across the network.
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identify and empower volunteers and parent advocates.
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support civic actions such as contacting council members.
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track sign-ups for the “Have Your Child Read to You” campaign.
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maintain consistent communication without top-down control.
This decentralized approach allowed every partner to use their own voice while still working toward shared goals. The scale of the literacy challenge required this kind of distributed leadership, and NationBuilder provided the tools to support it.
As Geren believes, "The most important job of a leader is to build more leaders." NationBuilder helped At Grade Level support and connect leaders across Fort Worth and its 12 school districts.
How communities can replicate this model
At Grade Level’s approach offers a template for coalitions and community organizations working to address a community-wide challenge.
Start with data that creates urgency.
Their 65-point perception gap made the issue impossible to ignore.
Use trusted and credible messengers.
Eighty partner organizations helped deliver the truth to parents.
Match the scale of your work to the size of the challenge.
A citywide crisis requires citywide communication and engagement.
Choose collaboration over blame.
Constructive framing encourages participation from parents and teachers.
Engage civic institutions beyond the expected ones.
City councils, community centers, and neighborhood groups can play major roles.
Organize in a decentralized way.
A constellation model builds resilience and trust across many partners.
Layer your tactics.
Combine media, education, advocacy, and parent outreach for real pressure.
Believe in your community.
As Geren says, once parents understand the truth, they work tirelessly to help their children.
What comes next for Fort Worth
Geren’s goal with At Grade Level remains unwavering and clear. "When all parents know the truth, all kids will read." In only eighteen months, they’ve moved the city 12 percent closer to that vision. Thousands of families are now engaged. Millions of dollars have shifted toward literacy. City leaders are treating the issue as a civic priority.
Fort Worth’s literacy crisis is not yet solved, but it is no longer hidden. With continued organizing, growing awareness, and strong tools to support community action, change is already underway. Through its work as a key organizing partner within a broader coalition of parents, educators, civic leaders, and nonprofits, At Grade Level has helped build momentum that is bringing the city toward a more equitable state for children and young adults in the education system.
To learn more about At Grade Level, visit atgradelevel.org.
