15 Dec 2003
DISD Receives One of the Largest Reading Grants in the State
DALLAS—A couple of timely announcements, courtesy of the Texas Education Agency and the U.S. Department of Education, has left the Dallas Independent School District with grants worth almost $12.7 million for special reading and math programs for thousands of Dallas schoolchildren.
"These are the sort of announcements from the federal government and TEA we welcome with open arms," Superintendent Mike Moses said. "These grants, totaling $12.7 million, will help ensure students in kindergarten through third grade can read and read well, and help us ensure that all fifth graders are able to hone the necessary math skills they need by the end of fifth grade."
READING FIRST
The district is receiving a $6.9 million Reading First grant to improve reading skills for students in kindergarten through third grade. The grant is one of the largest in Texas.
"The gift of reading is one of the most valuable skills adults can pass on to children. This holiday season we are fortunate to learn the Dallas Independent School District will be receiving a $6.9 million Reading First grant to improve reading skills for students in kindergarten through third grade," Moses said.
The grant will be used to support scientific, research-based reading instruction, professional development for teachers to help them better prepare all students to be able to read on or above grade level by the end of the third grade.
The grant is being administered by the Texas Education Agency and is a portion of the $79 million that was approved for Texas through the federal government in March of 2003.
Through the grant, 30 new reading coaches will be specifically assigned to campuses with the greatest needs for assistance. Their mentoring and coaching activities will include helping to assess and place students at the beginning of the year, monitoring student performance during the year and using data from the monitoring assessments to make ongoing adjustments in the reading and intervention programs.
The district's program will center on the five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development and text comprehension.
Based on the grant criteria, 366 Texas school districts and charter schools were eligible to apply for these funds because they had a percentage of third-grade students who failed the English and Spanish versions of the third-grade Texas Assessment of Academic Skills reading test that was equal to or greater than the state average of 13.6 percent in the 2001-2002 school year.
The primary objectives of the grant include:
• Successful implementation of Open Court and McGraw Hill, the district's comprehensive core reading programs on each of the 30 campuses. Both programs are based on scientific research and include systematic and explicit instructional strategies that are required by the grant. Supplementary materials will be available based on individual student need.
• Provision of professional development for all K-3 teachers and administrators, plus K-12 special education teachers, that defines the essential components of reading and effectively explains how to apply these components to improve classroom instruction and provide immediate intervention support for identified students at risk for reading difficulties, including dyslexia.
• Required use of valid and reliable screening, diagnostic, progressive monitoring and outcome measures in grades K-3 to provide educators with student achievement data that informs instructional practice, identifies students for intervention support, and assists in establishing professional development and budget priorities.
• Mentoring and coaching support for 30 local campus coaches, teachers and administrators in the following areas: data analysis and interpretation, instructional and intervention planning, professional development, and budget planning.
•Requiring that all district and campus administrators, 30 local campus coaches and teachers in funded schools will participate in the Reading First activities and training.
•Hiring a project director to manage grant and training activities, a campus coach coordinator to provide technical assistance and supervision of local campus coaches, three site intervention specialists to help grant sites develop academic intervention programs by providing direct services to grant participants, and 30 campus coaches who will develop and implement program activities for K-3 students at each site.
Schools included in the grant are: W.A. Blair, N. Hawthorne, J.W. Runyon, W.W. Bushman, City Park, W.B. Miller, R. Mills, Arcadia Park, J. W. Fannin, O. Hernandez, S. Houston, Maple Lawn, E. Medrano, B. Milam, Stevens Park, M.B. Henderson, M. Moreno, T. Tolbert, J. S. Hogg, J. F. Peeler, D. G. Burnet, J.T. Saldivar, Walnut Hill, S.S. Conner, C.A. Gill, J. Ireland, O.M. Roberts, E. Rowe, A. Silberstein, and G. W. Truett.
ACCELERATED READING AND MATH GRANTS
The district also has been awarded a grant for the Accelerated Reading Instruction and Accelerated Math Instruction. The reading money is based on the number of third graders failing the reading TAKS. Math is based on the number of fifth graders failing the math TAKS. The reading portion is for about $2.8 million and the math share is about $3 million.
Accelerated Reading and Accelerated Math programs are formula funded based on $1,007.46 for each third grade student failing the first administration of the TAKS English or Spanish assessment, and $1,007.46 for each fifth grade student failing the 2003 TAKS mathematics assessment.
The Texas Reading Initiative adheres to scientific research-based principles for beginning reading instruction. Using the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Pre-K through third grade and the state's adopted reading textbooks, the TRI commits its energies and funding to ensure that all third graders in 2003 should be able to read on grade level or higher.
The Texas Math Initiative is modeled after the successful Texas Reading Initiative. Its goals are to:
• Identify best practices and proven research-based models for math instruction;
• Give teachers a clear understanding of the math skills expected of students and the best instructional practices to enhance student performance;
• Bring together teachers, administrators and math experts to build consensus on reform efforts, while empowering teachers, parents and school districts to enact meaningful changes that will provide measurable results;
• Provide alignment between the essential knowledge and skills, textbooks and assessments;
• Recruit and retain more highly trained math teachers; and
• Ensure that students are given the opportunity for intensive instruction if they fall behind.