Archived Information

A Synopsis of the 2002 Early Reading First Project Grantees

CFDA# 84.359B

Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education

Early Reading First

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Room 3W240

Washington, DC 20202-6132

(202) 260-2195

January 2003

Summary of the 2002 Early Reading First Program

The ultimate goal of the Early Reading First Program, authorized by No Child Left Behind, Public Law 107-110, Title I, Part B, Subpart2, is to improve the school readiness of our nation’s young children, especially those from low-income families, by providing support for early childhood education programs serving preschool age children so they may become centers of educational excellence. This goal supports the President’s new Early Childhood Initiative to improve early childhood education and strengthen early learning for young children.

The Early Reading First Program brings a unique and bold approach to improving preschool programs for our nation’s at-risk children, including children with disabilities and limited English proficiency. Early Reading First provides funding and support to turn preschool programs into centers of excellence by improving instruction and classroom environments through scientific research-based practices in language, cognition and early reading.

Many of America’s children face daunting challenges as they enter kindergarten lacking the necessary skills to learn how to read. Early Reading First offers an exciting opportunity to participate insupport the President’s “Good Start, Grow Smart” Early Childhood Initiative and begin to meet this challenge by helping to ensure that children are provided with high-quality preschool education.

Eligible applicants for Early Reading First include local educational agencies (LEAs) and public and private organizations that meet the following criteria:

  • One or more LEAs that are eligible under Reading First criteria, as designated for the purposes of the FY 2002 Early Reading First grant competition on the list of eligible LEAs;
  • One or more public or private organizations or agencies located in a community served by one of those eligible LEAs on the list. Unless the public or private organization is a preschool program applying on its own behalf, it must apply on behalf of one or more programs that serve preschool age children (such as a Head Start program, a child care program, a family literacy program such as Even Start, or a lab school at a university)
  • One or more of the eligible LEAs, applying in collaboration with one or more of the eligible organizations or agencies.

Specifically, Early Reading First grants will provide funds to

  • Support local efforts to enhance the early language, cognitive, and early reading development of preschool age children, particularly those from low-income families, through strategies and professional development that are based on scientifically based reading research;
  • Provide preschool age children with cognitive learning opportunities in high-quality language and print-rich environments so that they can attain the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary for optimal reading development in kindergarten and beyond;
  • Use language and literacy activities based on scientifically based reading research to support the age-appropriate development of oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness and alphabet knowledge;
  • Use screening assessments or other appropriate measures to identify preschool age children who may be at risk for reading failure, and to determine whether those children are developing the language, cognitive, and early reading skills they need for later reading success; and
  • Integrate instructional materials and programs based on scientifically based reading research into existing preschool programs.

Through multi-year awards to eligible LEA’s with at-risk children, and public and private organizations located in communities served by those eligible LEAs, the Early Reading First Program is intended to ensure that preschool age children have the instruction, experiences, and environment that they need to enter kindergarten prepared for continued learning. These grants complement the Reading First State Grants Program, which provides support for high-quality, scientifically based classroom-focused reading instruction for kindergarten through grade three.

For FY 2002, Congress approppriated 75 million dollars for the Early Reading First program. Nearly 800 pre-applications were received and reviewed by panels made up of expert reviewers in accordance with Department of Education regulations. Of these, 252 were invited back to submite full applications. The Department received 248 full applications which were again reviewed by experts. The Department is making 3024 awards immediately. The following are abstracts for each project, containing a synopsis of what each project proposes to achieve with the Early Reading First grant funds, as well as details about project costs and contact information.

Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs, Alabama

Total Project Funds: $824,872

Project Director: Millie Dorman

RSA Tower, Suite 1670

201 Monroe Street

Montgomery, Alabama 36130-2755

(334) 223-0502

Abstract

Project EXEL is a comprehensive approach to transforming four existing pre- kindergarten classrooms in three centers located in two counties in Alabama into centers of educational excellence. This project builds on the limited, but encouraging, successes of previous researchers who have attempted to change opportunities to learn for preschool children from low-income families. Previously, researchers have flooded child care centers with books, taught parents and teachers how to increase the amount of children's participation during book read alouds, taught children to recognize phonemes and rhyming words, and increased the amount of children's pretend reading and writing by rearranging the classroom environment to support dramatic play.

Project EXEL draws from the successes of these programs and proposes an approach more comprehensive than that previously taken. This project will implement a content-focused early childhood curriculum in which literacy plays a critical role. During daily research-based instructional activities, teachers will provide more explicit, systematic literacy instruction, especially for those children identified at-risk for reading failure through screening and monitoring assessments. The classroom environment will be strengthened to provide optimal support for literacy and language growth. Parent involvement activities will be enhanced and aligned with the literacy and language goals of the program. In order to bring about these transformations, professional development will be intensive and sustained throughout the project. At the close of this project, every parent in Alabama will be excited to enroll his or her child in Project EXEL classrooms because that child will enter kindergarten prepared for academic success.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama

Total project costs: $2,508,061

Project Director: Kathleen Martin

901 South 13th Street

#113A

Birmingham, Alabama 35294-1250

(205) 975-5369

Abstract:

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Early Reading First project will close the achievement gap in a very low-income community by implementing significant, systemic changes in how a large proportion of entering kindergarten children are prepared for school. The project includes an independent child care center, a Head Start center, and two family child care homes that are independent of a local educational agency (LEA). The state university coordinates the provision of high quality professional development that results in university course credit and manages the evaluation component. Four preschool classrooms of the LEA also participate in the project. The LEA provides classroom space for the professional development, contributes Kindergarten Teacher Mentors for the preschool teachers, shares follow-up data for the longitudinal study, and participates in the professional development.

Twenty-eight preschool staff and approximately 300 children will benefit from the project. All children come from very low-income families in a very low-income community. Professional development is designed to include features recommended by professional organizations and to improve teacher skills in developing children’s oral language, phonological awareness, concepts of print, letter identification, cognitive and social development. In addition, the professional development will train teacher in the use of assessment to inform instruction.

The evaluation component includes a pre-test, post-test control group design. The child outcome and environmental measures are valid and reliable. Project-developed measures of improvement in parent, community, and teacher self-perceptions and skills also are planned. The entire project design is anchored in an ecological theory of child development in which family, school, and community variables are viewed as key factors in a child's successful development.

Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District #35, Arizona

Total Project Costs: $782,330

Project Director: Kristine Cleary Fontes

1374 West Frontage Road

Rio Rico, Arizona 85648

(520) 375-7458

Abstract:

The Santa Cruz Unified School District #35 (SCVUSD) is located in Southern Arizona, twelve miles north of the Mexican border. The school population is predominately Hispanic (86%) with approximately 66% being second language learners. Approximately 89% of the Kindergarten population qualifies for free or reduced lunch, according to the USDA Child Nutrition Program Income Guidelines. In this small, rural community there is a noticeable lack of early childhood programs. Most children enter Kindergarten with limited English language skills and little or no formal preschool where there is an opportunity to benefit from an environment that is rich in language, cognitive and early reading skills. This basis is essential for eventual reading success and success in school, at large. In order that no child is left behind in this journey toward academic success, more and better programs are needed. The SCVUSD Early Reading First Project will expand and improve the district's existing early childhood programs for low income children using scientifically based research proven methodologies.

In partnership with a non-LEA administered Head Start program, the Project will increase the number of preschool classes available to low income families, adopt a research proven curriculum targeting oral language, cognitive and early reading skills, ensure that all preschool classes have print-rich environments and necessary instructional materials to address these key early literacy skills, provide staff with the training and support to teach these skills, and provide increased parent support and training to extend this learning into the home. The success of the project will be measured in its first year by the documented mastery of language, alphabet knowledge, phonic skills and pre-writing skills in children completing the program and entering Kindergarten. At the end of three years, these children will enter third grade as fluent readers.

Tehama County Department of Education, California

Total project costs: $1,956,629

Project Director: Paula Brown-Almond

P.O. Box 689

Red Bluff, California 96080

(530) 528-7343

Abstract

The California Early Reading and Literacy Project (CERLP) is a research-based, model

program that restructures five existing rural preschools in Tehama County, California. These

preschools serve only low-income children, many of whom are limited English proficient and/or

have an identifiable disability.

CERLP has the following components:

1.

1. An intensive early reading program, linked to new preschool content standards, that

integrates innovative curricula and scientifically-base strategies to address: oral
language skills, phonological awareness, print awareness, emergent writing skills,
motivation to learn, and appreciation for literate forms;

2. 2. A dynamic child-centered learning environment;

3. 3. A comprehensive professional development program linked together through the

electronic portfolio system, "ClipBoard";

4. 4. An innovative, online child profile system, "School/Gate" with multiple measures
linked

to California's preschool and school-age standards and a summer transition
program; and

5. 5. A parent involvement and family literacy programs.

Individual learning plans are developed for each student. CERLP utilizes multiple forms

of evidence for student achievement including student portfolios, Desired Results Developmental

Profiles and the Gates-MacGinitie-4 (Level PRE). Expected outcomes for preschool-age

children include mastery of state preschool standards and pre-reading skills. Long-term

outcomes include children that are proficient readers and who excel academically. Rigorous

process and experimental evaluations provide information to assist in the project's continuous

improvement as well as compelling evidence of the project's impact.

The Clayton Foundation, Colorado

Total project costs: $3,13314,317

Project Director: Meera Mani

3801 Martin Luther King Boulevard

Denver, Colorado 80205

(303) 355-4411

Abstract:

The Clayton Foundation, in partnership with the Denver Public Schools (DPS), and the delegate agencies of Denver's Great Kids Head Start program, will establish an Early Reading First program in Denver, Colorado to serve at-risk preschool children. The five delegate agencies (Clayton, DPS, Catholic Charities, Mile High Child Care, and Volunteers of America) each will designate one of its centers as an Early Reading First Center of Excellence.

The Centers of Excellence will implement the Ready to Read, Write and Relate (RWR) project developed by The Clayton Foundation in collaboration with School of Education faculty at the University of Colorado and piloted in the 2001-02 school year. RWR aligns with state and local content standards and with the DPS comprehensive elementary literacy program. It incorporates the findings of scientifically based reading research about how children learn to read and about the environments, interactions and instruction that effectively lead this development. The RWR project features a user-friendly implementation handbook, an assessment for children, an inventory of literacy practices and classroom environment for teachers, and an intensive professional development program that includes systematic, outcomes-based classroom coaching.

RWR also has a purposeful focus on enhancing family literacy and classroom-home connections to support improved outcomes for children and greater parent involvement. A full-time Literacy Coach will work in each of the Centers of Excellence to implement the RWR project. Two project Family Literacy Coaches will provide training and support to the Family Service Workers who work with Head Start families and will develop workshops and take-home materials for parents and caregivers.

Pinon Project, Colorado

Total project costs: $1,039,079

Project Director: Virginia Howey

300 North Elm Street

Cortez, Colorado 81321

(970) 564-1195

Abstract:

The Pinon Early Reading First Project will provide the catalyst to create an ongoing, high-intensity reading readiness centers of excellence program targeting 332 low-income students, many of whom are English language learners and children with disabilities. The project is a partnership among the Pinon Even Start Program, the Montezuma-Cortez Public Schools (Cortez RE-1), the Ute-Mountain Ute Child Development Center and Head Start Program, Butler Tri-County Head Start, and the Trinity Preschool in Cortez.

The program will: enhance classroom environments to facilitate reading readiness; provide intensive staff development to improve instruction; enhance and modify reading curriculum and reading instruction at all sites to articulate with the Colorado Preschool Content Standards (the Colorado Building Blocks) and with the school district programs; add new high-quality, research-based books and multilingual materials for students; implement a parent involvement and training program including home visits to facilitate family participation in literacy; incorporate an ongoing, continuous improvement assessment model using a data based body of evidence to identify individual student needs and proficiencies in skills necessary for reading readiness; and implement an individual Early Reading First Plan for all students to ensure reading readiness upon entry into kindergarten.

The project’s goal is to create sustainable, replicable preschool research-based centers of excellence that effectively prepare low-income children to become successful readers. The project outcome objectives include:

1. Improve classroom environment to provide optimal conditions for success

2. Provide ongoing professional development and training for teachers to
gain mastery of research-based theory and instruction

3. Improve the quality and effectiveness of teacher instruction and planning

4. Improve student proficiency in the Colorado Preschool Content Standards and
reading readiness

5. Establish a permanent, articulated educational system for a seamless transition
into kindergarten

6. Provide parent training in effective strategies to assist their children's literacy
development.

United Way of Lee County Success By 6, Florida

Total project costs: $1,633,807

Project Director: Greg Gardner

7275 Concourse Drive

Fort Myers, Florida 3390895

(941) 433-2000

Abstract:

Success By 6 will create centers of excellence at five sites in Hendry, Glades and Lee counties in Southwest Florida: four rural child care centers and IMPACT, an inclusion child care center. Hendry/Glades is a high-poverty area designated a as a 'rural area of critical economic concern' by Governor Bush. The sites in Lee County include low-income and special needs children. Sites also include lLimited English proficient children.

The project builds on an innovative early literacy community-based collaboration named Success By 6, which has made great strides in reaching parents and child care professionals. Project components include a high-quality literacy environment, ongoing professional development for child care professionals, research-based activities and instruction, and screening assessments. The project also has a proven parenting component: over 400 parents a month access the neighborhood-based Success By 6 Resource House for early childhood development resources. By providing parents and professionals with the knowledge, skills and resources (environment, materials, classes, coaching and mentoring), parents and providers will jointly implement literacy activities to support their child's development. Finally, the project has an existing collaboration with the local school board; that relationship has been expanded through Early Reading First. Project partners -United Way, Child Care of Southwest Florida, the School Board, and the Library - have been working together for three years and have a history of success. The United Way brings project management skills, grants management, and evaluation expertise to the project.