FY 2019 IAL Awards - FTDS

Lake and Peninsula School District (AK) ($457,483) proposes a project to provide literacy education to 12 rural schools in southwestern Alaska.  A total of 441 children from birth through grade 12 will be served along with 48 teachers who will receive professional development.  The project is focused on utilizing technology to provide distance-delivered math and ELA tutoring to students who have not met target benchmarks.  Additionally, summer book distribution will contain STEM-focused books.  An online library will be created to facilitate access to and use of the Alaska digital library.

Benton County Board of Education (TN) ($499,538)  project focuses on Building Opportunities for Literacy and Life Development (BOLLD) which is a three-year project designed by the Benton County School District to support the “Tennessee Succeeds” and “Read to be Ready” state literacy initiative with an impact on local literacy proficiency and interest in STEM careers.   The project is grounded by four goals: (1) Benton County children will be ready to read by age 5; (2)Benton County children in grades K-8 will be proficient in reading; (3)Benton County students in grades 9-12 will exhibit the reading skills necessary to be college and career ready; and (4)Benton County students in grades 6-12 will be exposed to STEM College and Career information.  Project objectives emphasize building staff, student, and stakeholder capacity for use of research-based balanced literacy practices; building educator self-efficacy; building family self-efficacy for home-based literacy activities; and increasing student interest in and motivation for STEM college and career pursuits and pathways.  The STEM focus will provide students access to video-based STEM career explorations and expanded STEM readings.

Jefferson County School District (OR): ($749,579) The Read to Succeed School-Family-Community literacy program is a project designed to a) increase K-12 student motivation and engagement in literacy learning, b) increase access to books by delivering free books (bound, audible and e-books) to children and families, and c) strengthen literacy development through high quality, research-based activities for 2,890 students and their families in a rural and low-performing school district.  Specific approaches in this proposal include: development and implementation of K-12 motivational reading programs; distribution of free, student-chosen books to all 654 students at the Warm Springs K-8 Reservation school; development and implementation of culturally-specific family literacy programs; literacy training for school staff and student workers; and development of two summer literacy programs focused on literacy and STEM.

Colusa County Office of Education’s (CA) ($740,810) project is designed to build local capacity to provide, improve, and expand literacy services for birth – grade 3 students in Colusa County, California.  This project will promote literacy on two fronts: 1) in homes, through increased family engagement in literacy activities such as parent training, interactive book reading, book sharing routines; and 2) in schools and libraries, by improving literacy programming and book access, utilizing technology to improve literacy and expand access to educational choice, and expanding professional development opportunities for our early childhood educators.  The applicant plans to utilize the Footsteps2Brilliance® online application to improve literacy through distance learning technology that supplements the educational choice provided at each child’s rural school.