2012 Awards

Project Abstracts

Alabama:

Lowndes County Public Schools
PR/Award # S215G120161

This collaboration is between two school districts, Lowndes County Schools and Perry County Schools, located in the Black Belt region of central Alabama. There will be a total of eleven schools served, seven schools in Lowndes County Public Schools and 4 schools in Perry County Public Schools. Total number of students to be served is 3,808. The goals of this project are to facilitate a culture of literacy and transform the school libraries into centers of learning for students and their families and teachers.

Alaska:

Kashunamiut School District
PR/Award # S215G120151

The school district will implement a two-year comprehensive, culturally appropriate literacy program which will expand student (K-12) access to, and interest in, print and digital media; focus on early literacy for students PK-3; provide teachers with ongoing support through targeted literacy professional development as well as expanded access to cross-curricular print and digital media resources; and involve parents in early learning initiatives, both in school as well as in the home. The high poverty rate (42.4%) in this native village limits opportunities to support the children but also limits their exposure to the outside world.

Arkansas:

North Little Rock School District
PR/Award # S215G120245

The North Little Rock School District proposes the Book Nook Project to engage students with technology and distribute some 1,500 titles through the use e-books by giving each student their own Nook Tablet for school or home use. The project’s primary goal is to improve literacy skills and scores utilizing technology by providing continuous access to books and other media. To achieve this goal, the objectives are for project participants to: increase time spent reading; have an increased motivation to read; use e-reader devices for other research; gain confidence in using technology for learning; read an increased variety of texts; access and use a variety of e-reader sources; engage with family in the use of e-reader devices for learning; and gain an improved attitude toward reading. The district will target 2,100 tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students at two campuses: North Little Rock High School West and North Little Rock High School Sophomore Campus.

California:

Corning Union Elementary School District
PR/Award # S215G120064

This early intervention project addresses the early language and literacy skills of preschool through third grade. CLIP is a 12-week, research-based intervention consisting of explicit, corresponding classroom and parent-child interactive literacy components. Both the in-classroom intervention and Books and More book distribution program follow a detailed sequence of skill development activities that address the oral language and early reading skills needed for students to become successful readers. CLIP also provides intensive, on-going professional development.

Seeley Union School District
PR/Award # S215G120146

The district, in partnership with Westmorland Union School District, Meadows Union School District, United Families and Naval Air pre-schools, the Imperial County Office of Education and the Imperial County Free Library propose a project called The Future is Bright Literacy Project for families in the communities of Seeley, Westmorland and Meadows. This project aims to improve literacy in students, families, and the community. Partnerships will collaborate and support this project in delivering services to rural areas addressing literacy needs of students and families. This project will target children ages 0 to 14, pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, totaling approximately 1,300 children. A triad of cohesive capacity building will be focused on schools, communities and parents each being provided with the support and training necessary to increase literacy, student achievement and motivation. Our partnership will work towards increasing literacy through research based professional development in literacy and parent involvement, providing literacy coaching to all teachers via classroom observations, feedback, modeling, lesson design and lesson study, development of effective reading intervention programs, providing parent support and training increasing literacy in the home, enhancement of library services, literacy activities, and technology for increasing literacy for K-8 students.

District of Columbia:

Children’s Defense Fund
PR/Award # S215G120034

Children’s Defense Fund, a national non-profit organization and fiscal agent, in partnership with East Baton Rouge Parish School System, a large, urban Louisiana district serving more than 42,000 students in 85 buildings and Marlboro County School District, a smaller, rural South Carolina district serving over 4,400 students in nine buildings, proposes the PEAK project. It is a multi-layered project with services designed to prepare: young learners (ages 3 and 4, K – 2), upper elementary learners (grades 3 – 5), intermediate learners (grades 6 – 8), and adolescent learners (Grades 9 – 12) to enter the next level of education with the skills needed to be successful readers and students.

Eagle Academy
PR/Award # S215G120017

This program will improve parent and family engagement; support effective teachers and administrators; improve early learning outcomes; support the needs of students with learning disabilities; increase teacher and school knowledge and productivity, and provide access to tools which improve home/school instruction and coordination among stakeholders.

Reading Is Fundamental, Inc.
PR/Award # S215G120028

This project proposes to improve the performance of participating K–3 students on early reading assessments; increase the oral language and pre‐literacy skills of participating preschool children; increase the percentage of participating students who meet or exceed proficiency on the state English language arts assessments in grade 3; increase the use of data and data analysis to inform all decision making in participating schools and classrooms; increase the implementation of effective literacy instruction through the Let’s Talk About It! Oral Language Reading & Writing Program; and increase the exposure to informational texts in accordance with the new Common Core State Standards by the use of InfoPairs and nonfiction guided reading kits.

Florida:

School Board of Polk County, Florida
PR/Award # S215G120173

This project proposes to supply students with up-to-date library materials, expand family Internet access, extend library hours and outreach, and deploy certified school librarians to neighborhoods in poverty to help parents engage in fun and developmentally appropriate literacy activities with their children. Goals: Increase academic achievement at four low-performing schools; create a system of library outreach that helps to shift the school’s instructional practice to work with family assets rather than focus on deficits, and demonstrate parent assets that can be mobilized for natural learning.

Georgia:

Boys & Girls Clubs of America
PR/Award # S215G120193

This program will support K-3rd grade struggling readers in reaching reading proficiency through support in three spheres, school, community and family. The school sphere will provide intervention through one-on-one tutoring. The community sphere will provide supplementary reading sessions three times per week after school. The family sphere will include regular contact with parents to increase their skills in supporting their child’s education. Activities of the SPARK program will focus the project towards meeting long term outcomes which are greater student achievement gains, improved regular-school-day attendance, and improved student and family home literacy behavior.

Illinois:

East Saint Louis School District 189
PR/Award # S215G120112

This project will support the Get Ready, Get Set, Go Read initiative. The overall goal of the Get Ready, Get Set, Go Read initiative, which will serve 1,751 children at 7 elementary schools, is to improve the reading skills and academic improvement of underperforming students at these elementary schools. The project activities are based on the evidence-based Read Well program, which has been empirically shown to improve student literacy (Florida Center for Reading Research). Long-term project aims to improve student grade point averages; increase student speaking, listening, reading and writing skills of participants; improve teacher knowledge and skills to support childhood literacy; and increase parental involvement in childhood literacy efforts.

Indiana:

Charter for Accelerated Learning DBA C.A.Tindley Acc. School
PR/Award #215G120090

The HELP Literacy plan’s goal is to improve language arts and reading achievement to grade level in 3rd, 8th, and HS, leading to increased graduation rates. Objectives include steps to increase pupils’ early learning literacy skills and opportunities. These opportunities will be supported with weekly take-home libraries demonstrations for parents on reading to their children, appropriate classroom libraries for guided reading, and professional development on data-driven decision making for staff to develop culturally-appropriate cross-curricular lessons.

Kansas:

West Elk School District 282
PR/Award # S215G120032

This program purports to improve classroom literacy instruction through the use of technology; improve teacher rapport through differentiated instruction; increase teacher knowledge in literacy; increase parental involvement through targeted, district specific trainings; expand the Parent As Teachers program within four districts; increase children’s access to books within the home; increase student literacy achievement: increase middle and high school access to career and college-ready programming; and increase access for four school districts in acquiring and utilizing the Study Island program to increase literacy.

Kentucky:

Corbin Board of Education
PR/Award # S215G120044

This program proposes to improve reading/language arts and other content areas on state assessments, improve daily attendance and circulation counts, and increased student use of the library and its collections. The goals to be obtained by 2013 are for the number of students scoring at the novice or apprentice level on state assessments will decrease by 50% and 25% participant increase in library visits and the number of titles checked out. Aligned curriculum documents will be developed by school system staff.

Todd County Board of Education
PR/Award #S215G120063

The district will take 13,100 Steps to Literacy through this program. The title of the project comes from the number of books to be distributed to newborn, preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students over two years. Each child in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade will receive ten books each year. The books will be distributed through the classroom and will include tips for parents and a newsletter with upcoming events. The project objectives are to increase the number of books children have in their homes; provide a quality preschool reading readiness curriculum, which focuses on language, vocabulary, and communication in the preschool program; encourage parents to read and discuss books with their children; provide high quality technology in order to motivate and engage readers; update the library software and collection with trade books, bilingual books, and eBooks to reflect the interests and needs of the schools; and enhance the professional growth of teachers and media specialists.

Louisiana:

Raising A Reader National Office
PR/Award # S215G120141

The goal of the proposed project is to engage high-need children and their families in a regular routine of shared book reading at home. This goal will be accomplished through the delivery of Raising A Reader (RAR), an evidence-based early literacy and family engagement program. Objectives are to: 1) deliver high-quality RAR to 20,000 children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten (ages 4-6), in or near high-need LEAs with enhancements to support school libraries; 2) coordinate/align RAR with existing resources and plans at the school, LEA, and state level, and 3) evaluate RAR’s effects on family literacy behaviors and children’s early literacy outcomes and measure and improve effectiveness of RAR delivery. The expected outcomes of the project are increased access to books at home, increased frequency and interactivity of shared reading at home, increased family library-going behaviors, and gains in children’s oral language skills.

Mississippi:

McComb School District
PR/Award # S215G120104

The project will serve a total of 3,200 participants. This project proposes a comprehensive and coordinated approach to infuse reading into the school experience. The objectives are to annually increase the percentage of 3- and 4-year-old children who achieve gains in oral language skills, increase the percent of children who enter kindergarten demonstrating reading readiness, increase the percent of 3rd- and 8th-grade students who score Proficient on state language arts tests, increase the percent of high school students who score Proficient or above on state English II subject area testing, increase school library holdings of print and electronic media to 18:1 or better, ensure that every K-12 and Special Education classroom has a classroom library, and increase the number of parents who visit the school or public library with their child.

Starkville School District
PR/Award # S215G120138

The Starkville School District (SSD) serves a population of over 4000 K-12 students at 4 locations and 125 children in a fee-based preschool. Less than half of its students perform proficient or above on state language arts tests. Therefore, the district is proposing Reading to Succeed which is designed to address the literacy needs of children, birth through 12th grade. This project is based on the following research: M.D.R. Evans, et al “Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility Volume 28, Issue 2, June 2010, Pages 171–197.

Vicksburg-Warren School District
PR/Award # S215G120035

This district proposes a program for four-year-olds to achieve 20% increase in oral language, increase parent participation in early literacy programs, and provide current high interest text supporting instruction across academic content areas that will increase circulations by 10%. Goals: Flexible library hours are planned to increase access to high interest holdings and technology to support current evidence-based literacy programs aligned with Mississippi’s State Literacy Plan. Additionally, a community collaborative with child-and-family serving entities serving zero-four year olds will increase oral language development through free book distribution and parent training to increase percentage of children entering kindergarten with pre-literacy skills. Library/Media Specialist will participate in collaborative professional development with content area teachers to integrate informational skills into literacy development across academic content areas.

Missouri:

Board of Education of the City of St. Louis
PR/Award # S215G120048

This project will engage St. Louis Public School students in kindergarten through 2nd grade (K-2) and their parents in a two-year project designed to develop a deep love for reading, increase access to high-quality literacy resources in the elementary library media center and the classroom, integrate digital learning technologies into the literacy curriculum, and build strong literacy-related connections among the classroom, the library media center, and the home. The project will be implemented in 16 of the district’s lowest performing elementary schools, impacting approximately 2,800 high-need children. Committed partners will include the Saint Louis Public Library and the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation. The proposed work is supported by research including: Larson, Lotta C. “Digital Readers: The Next Chapter in EBook Reading and Response,” The Reading Teacher, 64(1), p. 15, 2010; Maynard, S. “Can Electronic Textbooks Help Children to Learn?,” The Electronic Library, 23(1), p. 103, 2005; and others.

Parents as Teachers Nation Center
PR/Award # S215G120007

This program proposes to demonstrate the impact of Parents as Teachers Program and Imagination Library on children’s oral language and emerging literacy. Goals: Increase in Parents’ frequency of language and literacy-promoting behaviors (reading to children, use of rhymes and songs, word play games, asking open ended questions, extending conversations), number of children with possible language delays identified through hearing screening and referred for further evaluation, parents’ increase use of library resources, children’s oral language at age 4, children’s knowledge of books and print, and number of age appropriate books in the home.

School District in Kansas City Missouri
PR/Award # S215G120155

The Kansas City Missouri School District, in partnership with the Kansas City Public Library System proposes the Literacy Now Project as an innovative approach to literacy. The project will serve students, parents and teachers throughout the district in a well-managed, collaborative effort, unifying current initiatives to focus on literacy development. Project participants will engage in several activities designed to meet the project’s two goals.

New Jersey:

Bridgeton
PR/Award # S215G120039

The Bridgeton School District’s Innovative Approach to Literacy (IAL) is to partner with the American Reading Company to provide a pre-school through grade twelve “just right” reading program for all students and their families. Additionally, the district will collaborate with the Tri-County Gateway Community Action Agency in their activities through their Family Success and Early Childhood Centers. The Bridgeton School District will implement a literacy program for two early childhood centers ages infant to three, the district and one community based pre-school for children age 4, kindergarten students district-wide, and grades 1-2 district wide. A total of approximately 2,775 children from birth to 8 years old will be impacted by the IAL grant by June 2014. Book distribution will be through the classroom library program design of the American Reading Company (100 Book Challenge) that challenges the students to read at their “just right” level in school and at home.

Camden City Board of Education
PR/Award # S215G120009

The goal of HEAR is to improve literacy skills for high-need very young children (infants, toddlers, preschoolers), adolescents in grades 9-12, and adult fathers of young children through the implementation of both proven and innovative approaches to strengthening language development, reading, and writing. The project will serve an estimated 244 participants including children, adolescents, and fathers of young children in the VOA reentry halfway house. Objectives include: Increasing engagement among adolescent pregnant mothers in literacy-related activities proven to impact the unborn child; improving language skills for participating very young children; improving language arts proficiency for participating high school students; and improving school-readiness for participating incoming three- and four-year-olds, particularly in the areas of language, literacy, and technology. The project also supports attachment, bonding, and communication between participating adolescent parents and their very young children, and facilitates opportunities for fathers on probation living in a VOA halfway house to participate more in the language learning of their very young children. HEAR will use literacy learning activities to address grief and loss experienced by participating adolescents, and to increase the knowledge of early childhood development, including language acquisition, early literacy, and school-readiness, for adolescent parents and high school students working with very young children.

New York:

Addison Central School District
PR/Award # S215G120220

This project is designed to increase literacy skills, improve students’ reading comprehension, motivate children to read, and support students’ achievement of the new Common Core Standards. Goal: Students will increase their ability to read with understanding through age-appropriate development of literacy skills that support reading comprehension; students will have increased access to informational text, in multiple formats, appropriate for their age and skill level both in school and at home, and teachers will increase their knowledge and skills for using instructional strategies that foster the development of reading comprehension.

The Books for Kids Foundation
PR/Award # S215G120241

Books for Kids will extend and provide more intensive programmatic support to improve preschoolers’ oral language development and academic vocabulary. It proposes to build on previous relationships with four State supported preschools in which libraries have been established. Books Aloud! is a unique program that has shown significant improvement of language and literacy skills through a randomized controlled trial involving 500 Preschoolers who come from high-need circumstances. This project will use this study as its guide for development.

McGraw Central School District
PR/Award # S215G120085

McGraw Central Schools will enact a high quality plan for innovative approaches to literacy including book distribution and childhood literacy activities birth through Grade 3. This plan will integrate an array of information technologies, to improve student achievement and teacher effectiveness. The project will: 1) enhance reading readiness of children ages 0-5 years; 2) distribute books to children from birth to 8th grade; 3) provide high quality childhood literacy activities with meaningful opportunities for parental engagement; 4) adopt the Big 6 and Super 3 models for teaching and reinforcing research, problem solving, and writing processes; 5) extend formal reading instruction beyond 6th grade using a researched-based approach (Scholastic READ 180) to ensure that instruction is targeted to student needs, that assessment informs instruction, and that students have ample opportunities to read and discuss reading; 6) develop a collection of high-interest, middle-level texts as well as periodicals, non-fiction e-books, leveled paperbacks and audio-books to encourage student engagement; 7) provide professional development for school staff.

North Carolina:

Beaufort County Schools
PR/Award # S215G120052

The district will take 13,100 Steps to Literacy through this program. The title of the project comes from the number of books to be distributed to newborn, preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students over two years. Each child in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade will receive ten books each year. The books will be distributed through the classroom and will include tips for parents and a newsletter with upcoming events. The project objectives are to increase the number of books children have in their homes; provide a quality preschool reading readiness curriculum, which focuses on language, vocabulary, and communication in the preschool program; encourage parents to read and discuss books with their children; provide high quality technology in order to motivate and engage readers; update the library software and collection with trade books, bilingual books, and eBooks to reflect the interests and needs of the schools; and enhance the professional growth of teachers and media specialists.

Ohio:

Cleveland Municipal School District
PR/Award # S215G120045

This program is designed to improve students’ reading achievement by providing a sequential, structured approach for oral language development in small groups that meet two to three times weekly, while ensuring students meet and exceed the requirements of the Common Core Standards. Goals: Will focus on oral language development using a balanced approach to literacy. 194 teachers and 42 Instructional Coaches will participate in high-quality, targeted professional development designed to enhance their overall skills and to ensure program fidelity in implementation.

Oklahoma:

Cottonwood Public School
PR/Award # S215G120074

This project will provide the needed personnel, books, technologies, curriculum materials, and professional development needed to 1) improve literacy skills among the younger children, 2) close the gaps in academic performance for students in all grades who are performing below level, and 3) motivate older children to read more, and better. Activities include greater one-to-one attention and scientifically based curriculum for preschoolers, a three-tier Response to Intervention strategy for low performers at all levels, use of book giveaways and emerging technologies to motivate students at all levels, inclusion of parents in reading, and coordination of project activities and events with existing reform measures. Proposed project outcomes include: By the end of this project, the district proposes to have 90% of the pre-school students entering school ready to read, all children reading on level by the time they exit third grade, and students at all levels showing academic gains in literacy, as exhibited by a 20% improvement on state core curriculum tests for students in grades three and eight.

Lane Elementary
PR/Award # S215G120096

This program proposes 50% of the students will gain higher levels of engagement with reading as the variety of Fountas and Pinnell leveled books become available for use at school and home for guided reading groups as evidenced by parent and student surveys; 10% of students will improve to grade-level reading and writing performance as indicated by MAPS and local assessments the first year and an additional 10% the second year; increase 10% of third grade reading and writing performance to grade level as precursor to future academic success; and 4) 50% of low-income families will participate in book giveaway programs to build their home libraries. The program also plans on utilizing scientifically evidence-based information, as well as effective strategies for facilitating the learning for disadvantaged students via the experience of trained literacy coordinators and educators. Goals increase in: oral language skills of participating 4 year olds; participating 3rd-grade students who meet or exceed proficiency on State reading or language arts assessments; participating 8th-grade students who meet or exceed proficiency on State reading or language arts and; the percentage of participating high school students who meet or exceed proficiency on State reading or language arts assessments.

Maryetta School
PR/Award # S215G120065

This project proposes to improve literacy achievement through the intense Reading Every-day for Academic Development (iREAD) Project. This is an elementary school district serving 706 students ages three through eighth grade. This project is supported with research from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse.

Oregon:

Lincoln County School District
PR/Award # S215G120074

This 2-year project proposes community partnerships in Ocean Sciences using local resources and contexts to increase reading achievement and 21st century literacy skills of all students. It will also develop strategies to support the Core Standards. The district is located along a 1,000 square mile stretch of the Oregon coast serving 5,000 students. Fifty years of research shows a positive correlation between student achievement on standardized tests and school libraries. Higher achievement is associated with libraries having increased hours, flexible scheduling, higher staffing levels, larger & more current collections accessible via technology, and library-centered and collaborative instruction between school librarians and teachers (NCES, 2007; Scholastic, 2008; Lance & Loertscher, 2005).

Texas:

Chilton Independent School District
PR/Award # S215G120006

This program is designed to increase oral language and pre-literacy skills for children age 0-5; to increase the performance of students in grades K-2 on early reading assessments; to increase the percentage of students who meet or exceed the proficiency level on the Texas STAAR language arts assessment for grades 3-12; to increase the percentage of parents who engage in literacy activities both to improve their own literacy and to improve the literacy of their children, and to expand the capacity of the district to address language learning needs of Spanish speaking families.

Crockett Independent School District
PR/Award # S215G120098

This initiative will support the acquisition of up-to-date library resources; use of technologies to develop and enhance students’ literacy skills; facilitation of Internet links and other resource-sharing networks; professional development for librarians and classroom teachers. The project will improve the literacy skills of the students attending Crockett Independent School District.

The East Austin College Prep Academy
PR/Award # S215G120011

This project is designed to increase oral language and pre-literacy skills of participating preschool children, the performance of students in K – 2nd grade on early reading assessments, increase the percentage of participating students who meet or exceed proficiency on the State English Language Arts assessment in grades 3 – 12, and access to up-to-date high-quality print and electronic media materials for educators, students, and parents of students. This project will provide for current Web. 2.0 technology equipment to build critical thinking, reading, and learning skills of participants; and accessibility to quality print and electronic materials before and after school, weekends, and summer to provide students and parents increased opportunities to participate in literacy/ library activities to reinforce reading.

Houston Independent School District
PR/Award # S215G120194

This project is designed to increase school-readiness for pre-school children; increase student achievement; increase the use of technology to drive achievement, and increase student and parent access to literacy resources. This proposed project will include activities such as staff development on the use of technology and Web 2.0 applications to support the district’s literacy curriculum to improve students’ academic performance in reading. Parents will receive training to promote family literacy and school readiness. In addition the district will update the quality, size, and modality of library books and other materials, as well as expand access to technology resources to support students’ learning. This plan is supported by the study of Meskill, C. and Mossop, J. (2000). Electronic Texts in ESOL Classrooms. TESOL Quarterly. 34, 3:585-592.

Karnes City Independent School District
PR/Award # S215G120084

LEAP will help to ensure all children are school ready by implementing a scientifically-based reading program that increases parents’ efforts to read aloud to their preschool aged children. LEAP will also work with preschool aged students via a book distribution program that will enhance the student’s home libraries and their oral language development. District students in Pre-K-3rd grade will have teachers that are trained to improve the students’ language development via dialogic reading. LEAP will be used to increase utilization of the campus libraries at each of the three school campuses.

Navasota ISD
PR/Award # S215G120226

Project LEADER will focus on providing resources to support literacy rich academic and enrichment activities by enhancing the quality and quantity of resources (print and electronic) in school libraries, increasing access to school libraries, increasing interventions for students to improve literacy, promoting parent engagement, facilitating early childhood literacy development, and fostering collaboration of all staff members through joint professional development. Project LEADER will provide students with increased access to school library materials; a well-equipped, technologically advanced school library; and well-trained, librarians who work collaboratively with teachers in an effort to increase the literacy level of students. The district will achieve this by extending library hours to include at least 30 minutes before school each day, up to two hours after school, hours during the summer months, and at least one Saturday per month.

Nixon-Smiley Consolidated Independent School District
PR/Award # S215G120061

The Nixon Smiley Consolidated Independent School District provides public education for children from the two rural communities Nixon and Smiley, Texas. The district has developed a plan that will: 1). Increase access to a wide range of literacy resources (including print or electronic) that prepare young children to read and provide learning opportunities to all participating students; 2). Provide high-quality childhood literacy activities with meaningful opportunities for parental engagement that includes teaching and encouraging parents to use literacy resources effectively and to read books often with their children in their early life and their early years of school; 3). Strengthen literacy development across all academic areas by providing literacy resources spanning a wide range of both complexity and content (including both literature and informational text) to effectively support reading and writing; 4). Offer appropriate educational interventions for all readers with support from school libraries; 5). Foster collaboration and joint professional development opportunities for teachers, school library personnel, and school leaders with a focus on using literacy resources effectively to support reading and writing as well as academic achievement; and 6). Provide resources to support literacy-rich academic and enrichment activities and services aligned with the Texas college- and career-ready academic content standards and the comprehensive statewide literacy plan.

Refugio Independent School District
PR/Award # S215G120060

RISE! (Reading for Imagination, Success, and Education) will greatly expand services and increase local capacity to our district’s students in grades Pre-K through 8th. Objective include providing professional development to better improve current programs, providing daily enrichment and intervention for grades K-8, access to libraries during non-school hours, and after school and evening student/parent programs and special projects, and increasing long-term success by early intervention by providing technology and literacy programs such as Reading Eggs to daycare centers and Head Start. RISE! will serve 496 PreK-8th grade students in elementary and middle schools if the Refugio Independent School District.

Region 5 Education Service Center
PR/Award # S215G120024

Region 5 Education Service Center is a local education agency serving 30 public school districts. While Region 5 student reading performance is reported above state averages, two rural, isolated districts have significantly lower reading outcomes. This project proposes to create sustainable solutions to literacy challenges in these school districts. Newton Independent School District and Burkeville Independent School District have been targeted for improving student achievement on standardized literacy assessments. A professional learning community, vertically-aligned literacy curriculum, ongoing embedded trainings, restocked school libraries, and evidence-based curricular tools are part of the plan to improve student outcomes. This project was developed around research of D. C. Berliner in the publication Putting Research to Work in Your School. Scholastic. 52-54, 102-111.

Washington:

The Reading Foundation dba Children’s Reading Foundation
PR/Award # S215G120240

The objectives of this project will be to train parents having children age three to five within this LEA, increase the time parents read to their children each day, provide online resources for parents, and provide appropriate books to children from birth through age eight within eligible LEAs. Parent training will occur within the context of READY! For kindergarten classes, parent classes held three times each year focusing on tools and activities that can be used in the home to play with a purpose daily to promote early language development and pre-literacy skills. Parents will also receive training during Read Up summer reading events. These events occur over an eight week period each summer, parents will receive tips on reading techniques and children will receive a new book.

Wisconsin:

Athens School District
PR/Award # S215G120092

This K-12 program will make it possible for 50% of students from low-income families to participate in book giveaway programs to build their home libraries; 2) 75% of students will gain higher levels of engagement with reading as the variety of Fountas and Pinnell leveled books become available for guided reading groups. (Lexile 85% of the books at the school libraries to facilitate this objective.); 3)50% of parents invited to literacy-related educational development activities will participate. Goals: Implementation activities for reading and writing enhancement as well as focusing the students on resources fit for individual reading and writing proficiency. Identification of struggling students and guiding these students to books and resources provided through aforementioned programming.

Milwaukee Public Schools
PR/Award # S215G120025

This project focuses on establishing reading improvement structures that will leverage student achievement in literacy. Using Response to Intervention (RtI), a framework for differentiated instruction, four high-need schools will respond to student learning needs using technology, involving parents, and promoting the love and appreciation of books.

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