Kentucky Content Literacy Consortium to Host Second Annual Adolescent Literacy Conference, “Striving to be Our Best”

June 10, 2010

On Friday, June 25, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington, Kentucky, the Kentucky Content Literacy Consortium (KCLC), will kick off its fifth year of work under a federal Striving Readers grant with its second annual literacy conference, “Striving to be Our Best,” for more than 900 Kentucky teachers and school and district administrators participating in the project.  The conference is being organized by CTL (Collaborative for Teaching and Learning), a Louisville-based non-profit provider of professional development for educators, and a lead partner in the Kentucky Striving Readers project.  CTL developed the school-wide Adolescent Literacy Model being implemented under the grant.  
 
Dennis Bega, senior education advisor for the U.S. Department of Education, and Kentucky Commissioner of Education Dr. Terry Holliday will participate in a panel discussion on literacy development policy and practice at the luncheon, which is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m in the Lexington Convention Center Bluegrass Ballroom.  The conference itself will also feature presentations by literacy coaches, administrators and teachers working in 21 Kentucky middle and high schools.  Designed to support the development of literate learning strategies in all content areas, concurrent sessions will focus on literacy integration that applies broad-based literacy strategies across content areas; literacy leadership for school administrators and teacher leadership teams; and literacy technology, emphasizing the use of technology and Web 2.0 applications to support literate learning in all subjects.
 
The KCLC Striving Readers grant is one of only eight such multi-year grants awarded nationwide by the United States Department of Education, and the only one to focus on a consortium of rural schools.  The goal is to increase student achievement by improving the literacy skills of middle and high school students, including English language learners.  The consortium includes CTL; Danville Independent Schools as fiscal agent for the grant; the University of Louisville; and the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development at the University of Kentucky, which serves as evaluator for the project.  The Kentucky Department of Education is a supporting partner, helping to build connections between this project and related work statewide. 

KCLC also includes six Kentucky school districts in addition to Danville as partners in the Striving Readers grant:  Eminence Independent, and Bullitt, Pike, Washington, Jessamine and Rowan County Schools.  Each participating school is implementing two programs—the CTL-developed Adolescent Literacy Model, a tested school-wide initiative to boost achievement in all subject areas for all students through improved literacy, and the Learning Strategies Curriculum, a research-based intervention from the University of Kansas for struggling sixth and ninth grade readers.  More than 900 teachers and 13,000 students are participating. 
 
In addition to designing and leading all professional development for the project, CTL staff also train the Striving Readers literacy coaches in partnership with the University of Louisville College of Education and Human Development, which will confer a certificate in secondary literacy and leadership upon each coach who has completed training over the course of the project. 
 
The June 25th conference will provide opportunities for teachers, administrators and policy-makers to learn firsthand about the classroom strategies being implemented under the Kentucky Striving Readers grant.  Challenges, successes, and implications for continuing work in the critical area of adolescent literacy will be explored.

For additional information or to attend the conference, contact:
Amy Awbrey Pallangyo
v: 502.895.9500 x318