BEREA, Ohio — When you think about the Cleveland Browns, reading might not come to mind. But if you think about it there are a lot of ties: Playbook, read option, and of course, the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network.
Launched in 2019 by the Cleveland Browns Foundation, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Harvard's Proving Ground, the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, managed by Battelle, works together to "campaign, connect and convene with experts and supporters to dramatically improve attendance."
Over the years, the network has grown dramatically.
"We started with a cohort of 17 school districts. Now we are up to 189 school districts throughout the state of Ohio. We're impacting 600,000 students and over 100 of those are in Northeast Ohio alone," said Lizzie Heidenreich, director of the Cleveland Browns Foundation.
The mission of the network is simple: get kids excited about going to school and provide resources to fight chronic absenteeism and the educational benefits will follow. The statistics of those benefits are reflected heavily in literacy rates.
"We know that when kids are in school regularly, they're more likely to read on grade level by 3rd grade and 12 times more likely to graduate from high school on time," Heidenreich said. --
Educators, like Lisa Williams, the principal of Falls-Lenox Primary School in Olmsted Falls, echoed the importance of attendance when it comes to reading.
"We know that for every two days a month that students miss school, it can add up to three weeks over time. If they're missing two days a month, it can add up to three weeks of learning loss. So being here at school is super important, and we are teaching kids foundational reading skills, so phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, from how to read to reading to learn," Williams said.
The Browns' Stay in the Game! Attendance Network works to combat those numbers in various ways. Throughout the school year, the program rewards students who show good and improved attendance at schools across the network with events like Gym Class Takeovers with Browns players and staff. They also hold reading-specific events, like what was held at Falls-Lenox Primary School in March, which included the Browns' superstar mascot, Chomps.
"We had some Browns staff members come to the building with Chomps, and the staff members read aloud to several classes throughout the building. After the staff members read aloud to the students, the kids were super excited to teach Chomps how to read. So they taught him how to read and all of the different skills that have helped them become good readers," Williams said.
Falls Lenox Primary School in Olmstead Falls joined the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network last year. Like the Brown's programming, they're dedicated to improving literacy rates in unique ways.
"One of our goals is not only to teach students how to read, but also to love reading. We're trying to inspire them to read, get them excited about books, love reading. And we do lots of building-wide activities that foster that love for reading. We have a book vending machine in our lobby. One of the things that kids can earn for being their Bulldog-best is they can earn a book from the vending machine. So they get to go down to the lobby, they get to select a book, and they get to take that book home and keep it," Williams said. "We have family literacy night, and we also have lots of guest readers come in, which is where the Browns coming in last year just added to that excitement."
Whether it's a book vending machine or a mascot-led event, reading is a core pillar of the mission for the Browns and their network of schools—and there's even more plans on the way as the Browns try to tackle the literacy gap at every level.
"The Browns Foundation has partnered with the Cleveland Public Library over the past couple of years in creating attendance challenges and literacy challenges for our partner schools. This month we're excited to be launching a Cleveland Browns-branded library card. "So in just a few weeks, anybody can go to their local Cleveland library branch and pick up a Browns-branded library card. So we're excited and focusing on literacy from kindergarten through adult learners as well," Heidenreich said.
