Campaign for Grade Level Reading

Barbara O’Brien, Ph.D., serves as the National Policy Director for the Campaign for Grade Level Reading. The Campaign is a collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, states and communities across the nation to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. The Campaign focuses on one of the most important predictors of school success and high school graduation--grade-level reading by the end of third grade. She was elected to the Denver School Board in 2013 and also serves as president of Get Smart Schools, a Colorado nonprofit that trains school leaders for high performing public schools in low-income neighborhoods. Prior to this, she was a Senior Policy Fellow at the Piton Foundation in Denver and was president of the Colorado Children’s Campaign for sixteen years. Dr. O’Brien also served as the Lt. Governor of Colorado from 2007-2011. She is a long-time advocate for young children and has a history of innovative policy initiatives.