V.I. Education Commissioner Dr. LaVerne Terry has announced that a recent federal grant award of $341,043 will aid the department in creating a comprehensive literacy plan and programs for children from birth through grade 12. The federal Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant was budgeted at $200 million for fiscal year 2010, and of that amount, $10 million was put by Congress toward formula grants that could help state departments set up literacy teams tasked with helping in the development and drafting process. A second set of competitive grants were also made available to state departments to help with implementation.
For U.S. territories, the funding was set aside and allocated according to student population. Unlike its state counterparts, the territories had to include information for both planning and implementation in one round of grant applications.
Dr. Sarah Mahurt, the V.I. Education Department’s deputy commissioner of curriculum and instruction, explained Friday that the department’s literacy team would be made up of individuals with expertise in early childhood literacy development, special education, teacher preparation and literacy program evaluation. Community members and representatives from other government agencies will also be included in the process.
Along with the literacy plan, the department will also be developing a stronger collection system for data on children before they enter school. “This data will provide significant information for improving services for preschool children,” Mahurt said.
Mahurt noted that local data is absent in critical areas such as writing, which is an important aspect of literacy development. The grant will allow the department to provide writing assessments for local fifth, eighth and 11th graders, along with instructional support for all grade levels. The resulting data will also help with teacher planning and boost student achievement.
The grant also supports the creation of programs, including workshops aimed at helping preschool and kindergarten students improve their oral language skills. Programs and workshops will be held for teachers, parents and caregivers.
Teachers in grades K-8 will also be able to take advantage of professional development opportunities aimed at improving all aspects of student literacy development, including a focus on differentiated instruction – a concept that allows teachers to develop strategies that target all types of students, ranging from English language learners to students with special needs.
The professional development will also include a focus on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that the V.I. Department of Education adopted in September, 2010. For more information on the CCSS, visit www.corestandards.org http://www.corestandards.org.
“This grant will help provide a clear, focused plan for literacy development in the Virgin Islands, while giving those who work with children of all ages throughout the territory a chance to improve literacy learning,” Mahurt said.
