INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – The Learning Alliance of Indian River County would like to thank the generous residents of John’s Island for two grants awarded in 2013 to provide literacy-based curriculum and training for our School District of Indian River County.
The John’s Island Foundation awarded a grant of $25,000 to The Learning Alliance to provide Fundations materials to the elementary schools and summer academies.
“This was the first year that we had the Fundations program in all 13 elementary schools in Indian River County. We are grateful to the John’s Island Foundation for helping to fund this evidence-based curriculum that is working so well to improve childhood literacy in our schools,” said Barbara Hammond, Executive Director of The Learning Alliance.
Fundations is a multisensory structured phonemic language program based on the principles of Orton-Gillingham and the Wilson Reading System, designed to help young learners. The program provides hands-on manipulatives and books, a teacher manual, student notebook and workbooks to complete the program.
The Learning Alliance also received a $25,000 grant from the John’s Island Service League to provide professional teacher coaching to support the Indian River County elementary school teachers with the Fundations program.
“This “shoulder-to-shoulder coaching” was given to the teachers in grades K, 1, 2 and 3 so that they may properly implement the Fundations programs with fidelity. This unique coaching support is directly linked to the program’s success and provides further professional development to the Fundations teachers,” said Liz Woody, co-founder of The Learning Alliance.
“In 2013, the Fundations programs resulted in notable literacy gains, ranging from 50-193 percent, in foundational literacy skills for the students in the School District of Indian River County, and we are grateful to these John’s Island organizations for their support,” said Barbara Hammond.
Through partnerships with the School District of Indian River County, Indian River State College, and civic youth organizations in the community that support the “Moonshot Moment,” The Learning Alliance is creating local solutions that can serve as a model for the nation.
All programs of The Learning Alliance are made possible through the generosity of its Founders: David and Barbara Baldwin, Paul and Jayne Becker, Tom and Carol Corr, Barbara Becker Hurley, Jim and Jean Kelly, Whitney and Betty MacMillan, Raymond and Jean Oglethorpe, Donald and Patsy Riefler, Arthur and Patricia Ryan, Warren and Virginia Schwerin, William and Marlynn Scully, Dace and King Stubbs, and Donald and Janet Tribus.
More information about The Learning Alliance is available at www.thelearningalliance.org. The “Moonshot Moment” goal is to achieve 90 percent literacy in third grade by 2018.
More information is available at www.moonshotmoment.org.
