The Learning Alliance is one of 38 agencies to receive a grant from the more than $1 million funding pool distributed this year during the John’s Island Community Service League’s Closing Luncheon at the John’s Island Club.
The Learning Alliance received a $25,000 grant to use toward the Moonshot Academy summer program at Vero Beach Elementary School. The Learning Alliance is a vision driven, emergent learning organization dedicated to building innovative and collaborative solutions to help children learn to read. Our Moonshot Moment vision of 90 percent of all third graders reading on grade level motivates our work.
“This is the second year the John’s Island Community Service League has funded our very exciting STEAM based summer program, which students attend for four weeks, six hours a day,” said Barbara Hammond, TLA CEO and co-founder. “This is giving kids the literacy skills and the engineering and math skills to really excel in this world. We’re very thankful for the support of the John’s Island Community Service League.”
The Moonshot Academy is a multi-faceted, enriched literacy after-school and summer program that provides remedial instruction, additional time for mastery of academic content for struggling students, and enrichment activities that connects learning concepts.
Today only 35 percent of all third graders nationally and 54 percent locally are reading on grade level; success requires unprecedented levels of trust, collaboration, and leadership between schools and community partners.
The Learning Alliance is dedicated to improving the social and economic welfare of our community through literacy. We have forged unprecedented public/private partnerships with our school district and with over 70 community partners.
Moonshot Academies (MSAs) are learning labs for both teachers and students. They provide opportunities for students to grow their literacy skills and for teachers instructional practice around core competencies critical for student success.
At Vero Beach Elementary School the 2018 MSA summer program served 60 rising second and third-grade students falling below the 50th percentile based on iReady scores for four weeks during the summer to help stop the summer slide and catch struggling readers up to their peers.
Traditionally schools see between 15 and 25 percent loss over the summer, due to summer slide. Our Vero Beach Elementary Moonshot Academy students saw an average of 5 percent growth from their spring to fall iReady reading diagnostic test.
“We have been funding The Learning Alliance since 2010 and view them as a significant partner in our efforts to make education available for all children in Indian River County,” said Louie Hoblitzell, JICSL grant co-chair. “The Learning Alliance is one of the key partners because they’re part of the glue that holds together a large number of our agencies that are oriented toward educational issues.”
About The Learning Alliance:
At The Learning Alliance, our work is predicated on the question – What does it take to achieve 90% literacy by third grade such that we create literate, compassionate, creative citizens who will improve our world? The Learning Alliance is a catalyst for innovation and collaboration supporting the Moonshot Moment 90 percent literacy transformative goal by arming front-line educators, parents, and community leaders with the tools, knowledge, and support necessary for success. Through innovative, evidence-based approaches to teaching and learning, we empower teachers to transform children’s lives. Through partnerships with the School District of Indian River County, community leaders, and civic youth organizations in our community, we hope to create local solutions that can serve as a model for the nation.
For more information about The Learning Alliance, please visit thelearningalliance.org or call 877-548-READ (7323).
By Ann Brown