Grant to boost adolescent reading instruction in southwest Washington schools
Schools in southwest Washington will get a boost in reading instruction thanks to a grant from the Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The Reading Achievement Now grant--one of only two awarded--is for approximately $400,000 over three years.
The grant will provide training for secondary school teachers who don't teach reading to learn to implement reading strategies in their regular classes. For example, a History teacher will be trained so that he discretely begins using strategies that help his poor readers.
This project involves 26 teachers learning and using reading research and reading comprehension strategies in math, science, social studies, and language arts classrooms from 13 middle and high schools to increase student learning. Teachers from high needs rural and remote districts will participate with teachers from districts hosting University of Washington Vancouver student teachers to increase their reading-content knowledge, develop a deep understanding of Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements, Grade Level Expectations, Washington Assessment of Student Learning in reading, and content area instruction that teaches students strategies for comprehension and contextualized vocabulary development. Teachers will engage in discussions with experts and each other to learn, implement, reflect, focus, observe, and refine their classroom instruction in content area reading.
Teachers from the following schools will participate in the grant: Klickitat School, Wishram School, Glenwood School, Lyle High School, Battle Ground School District's Summit View High School, Laurin Middle School and Lewisville Middle School, Hockinson Middle and High School, Kalama Middle and High School , La Center Middle School, and Ridgefield High School. Educational Service District 112 (ESD 112), Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV), and Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) will also participate in this reading-reform grant.
"This grant will provide much-needed training for secondary educators in our region to gain teaching strategies in the essential area of reading. If we think about reading as a component of all subject areas, we can begin to train teachers to build student reading skills in every subject," said Barbara Lomas, Director of School Improvement for ESD 112.
Jodi Thomas - June 2005