2008 Grant Proposal Details

Our Youngest Readers   District 4J

Total: $10000

Description:  The human brain comes primed to communicate, and at kindergarten it’s high time to be reading. Each of us goes through some network of steps that leads to efficient and enjoyable reading. Each of us finds some steps more difficult than others, but some of us find roadblocks so large that adult intervention is needed. Roadblocks may be biological ("learning disabilities" they are sometimes called), or based on family dysfunction, or just a matter of living with parents fluent in another language than the one at school. Fortunately, it can work wonders to find the right intervention among those schools provide. The sooner, the better. In 4J's new program called Instructional Intervention and Progress Monitoring (IIPM for short) we harness new computer technologies to do frequent and universal testing, then choose among interventions. As individual interventions are applied, we measure the rate of response. The IIPM research by 4J and the University of Oregon has been going on at four elementary schools with high numbers of struggling young readers. We’ve see it work. Now we want to boost early intervention in these schools, and we want to replicate it in other schools.

Why is this important?  Though IIPM funding is set to be put into 4J’s budget for the next year (that is, September) we’re worried momentum will be lost a few months from now when our research grant runs out. This proposal asks for funds to continue testing and intervention for the rest of this school year.

Who will be served?  Struggling readers are especially concentrated among the several hundred students in our four key schools, because of demographic factors. That's why we selected these schools. Yet all students are helped by IIPM activities, because IIPM builds up the skill sets needed for effective and enjoyable reading.

How will this be evaluated?  If student improvement continues at its current rate, thanks to IIPM support through this grant and individual school efforts, we'll consider it the success that sets the stage for rapid adoption by additional schools starting next school year.

Does this build on existing programs?  For a decade now, 4J has been developing and distributing “Diagnostic Reading Kits” to its schools Activities in the kits diagnose reading skills and suggest interventions for the teacher to try, a process that has worked well. We can expand this success using computers to a level unimagined a decade ago: every child is tested, and the results of individual intervention are measured and made available to the teacher right away.

Budget:  All goes to staffing, because the hardware and supplies are already in place. What’s needed is coordination of the data by someone other than the teacher, because drawing teacher time away for this purpose diminishes effectiveness in the classroom.

Proposal #:  123