VERO BEACH — Community leaders and philanthropists headed back to school Friday morning for the Literacy in Action Show and Tell at Glendale Elementary School, hosted by The Learning Alliance and the School District of Indian River County.
The visitors were invited to view first-hand the remarkable progress being made towards the lofty goal of becoming a model for the nation by achieving a 90 percent literacy rate for all district students by the end of third grade.
“What you are seeing today is transformational leadership in action,” said Barbara Hammond, executive director and co-founder of The Learning Alliance. Likening the change to a butterfly’s metamorphic transformation she added, “You are going to see it in action today in the classroom.”
An important aspect of the program is the continual training and coaching provided to teachers as they implement the program. The Learning Alliance strives to empower teachers turning over the training and having them become master reading coaches who can assess teacher and student needs.
“They will keep this sustainable,” said Sue Curtis, Learning Alliance educational consultant. “They really have become the experts.”
“The main thing that helps this program is the support for the implementation of it,” said Glendale principal Mary Ellen Schneider, adding that of the 512 children enrolled in the school, 60 percent are minority, 10 percent ESOL (English as a second language), and 70 percent receive free or reduced lunch.
Small groups of visitors looked in on kindergarten, first and second-grade classes, watching as children were engaged in the repetitive, multi-sensory “seeing it, saying it, doing it” components of the phonetic “Fundations” reading and writing program.
“I would have never thought in my wildest dreams that it would be as successful as this,” said Learning Alliance board chairman and co-founder Ray Oglethorpe. “In 2009 it was just three women and me.”
Through the process of establishing a reading program for their own children, Barbara Hammond, Liz Woody and Lisa Hurley bonded together with Oglethorpe to create The Learning Alliance. The program has now reached more than 3,000 children in 13 schools, trained 158 teachers and developed 38 master coaches.
“It’s been a wonderful partnership between the school district, The Learning Alliance, and all our supportive partners in the community,” said Oglethorpe. “We’re really just starting; it gives us great hope that we’ll be able to meet this 90 percent literacy in third-grade by 2018.”
“Teaching reading is rocket science; there is nothing simple about it,” said Dr. Fran Adams, School District superintendent.
“You are on the leading edge of what is happening around the United States. Third grade is the gateway to learning. The criticality of having children learning to read by third-grade cannot be overstated.”
She cited various statistics on the importance of early literacy, noting that nationally, 68 percent of children are not proficient by fourth grade, and that 85 percent of juvenile offenders have reading problems.
“Our schools are going to be an asset to community economic growth,” said Adams. “We want to be known as the literacy capital of the nation – this is very possible.”
“Looking at all these statistics, you sometimes lose the fact that there are actual children behind the statistics,” said Oglethorpe. “These are real kids; real lives; and we’re trying to make a positive change in their lives.”
Plaques were presented to participants in The Learning Alliance Summer Scholars tutoring program which was recognized with a Community PaceSetter Award, presented by the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. To keep children engaged over the summer and prevent what they call the summer slide, the program is included in the curriculum at the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Gifford Youth Activity Center.