Federal Striving Readers Adolescent Literacy Work Helps Kentucky Teachers Address Student Skills

Photo at top: Teachers in Kentucky's Striving Readers project gather in Louisville in December 2008 to hear about program results and to discuss plans for further implementation.

March 24, 2009

CTL, a major partner in a $17+ million, multi-year Striving Readers grant from the United States Department of Education, reports progress at the close of the third of four years of professional training for more than 800 Kentucky teachers, school administrators and literacy coaches learning how to boost student literacy in all subject areas.  The goal is to guide schools toward independent implementation of the school-wide adolescent literacy model over time.

The adolescent literacy model at the heart of the work is based on CTL’s prior work in content literacy, including research sponsored by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, and takes a school-wide approach to teaching literacy, based on the developmental needs of adolescents. Progress at the end of Year 3 includes the following:

• Implementation of the school-wide adolescent literacy model in project schools continues to increase.
• Project school teachers’ perception of their own success is measurably higher than that at comparable non-project schools.
• Leadership team development and systematic planning continues to expand at all project schools.
• Project school literacy coaches are reaching the end of their required coursework at U of L to prepare them for independent implementation of literacy coaching and student intervention beyond the life of the federal grant.

This summer, all Kentucky Striving Readers schools will participate in a series of trainings, beginning with a one-day statewide Adolescent Literacy Conference, to be held in Lexington in June. At this conference school literacy coaches, CTL mentor coaches, and teachers will present and participate in learning sessions designed to share lessons learned through grant implementation, and to enhance one another’s learning. In addition, school coaches will collaborate with CTL mentors to design customized training for all teachers at their own schools.

One of only eight such grants awarded nationwide, and the only one to focus on a consortium of rural schools, the Striving Readers initiative is enabling the Kentucky Content Literacy Consortium (KCLC) to increase student achievement by improving the literacy skills of middle and high school students, including English language learners. KCLC also includes Danville Independent Schools as fiscal agent for the grant, and both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky. The Kentucky Department of Education is a supporting partner, helping to build connections between this project and other work statewide.
 
KCLC includes six Kentucky school districts in addition to Danville that are also partners in the Striving Readers grant: Eminence Independent, and Bullitt, Pike, Washington, Jessamine and Rowan County Schools. Twenty-one middle and high schools are participating in KCLC activities. Each is implementing two programs: A previously tested school-wide initiative to boost literacy in all subject areas for all students, and a research-based intervention for struggling sixth and ninth grade readers.
 
CTL has developed and is leading all professional development for the consortium, and mentoring of participating teachers throughout the course of the project. In addition, in partnership with the University of Louisville College of Education and Human Development, CTL staff is training literacy coaches to work with teachers to implement the CTL-developed Collaborative Model for Content Literacy in each of the 21 KCLC Striving Readers schools. Under the grant, coaches who complete 100 hours of training annually will be eligible to receive a Master’s degree in secondary literacy and leadership from U of L.

For more information, contact
Amy Awbrey
V: 502.895.9500 x318