College of Education receives state grant to launch summer literacy program at J.E. Moss Elementary School
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Lipscomb University’s College of Education has received a grant from the state of Tennessee to administer a summer literacy program targeted to Title 1 Schools and rising first through third grade students.
The $30,000 grant was awarded to Lipscomb University to fund its Camp Explore: Reading and Writing in Nashville program to be offered at Metro Nashville Public School’s J.E. Moss Elementary School. The grant is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Lipscomb was one of only 12 selected out of 220 grant proposals across Tennessee.
“Literacy is such an important skill that can open doors for students. When children increase reading and comprehension skills, each academic area is positively affected. Being able to encourage literacy in young people and their families and to equip teachers with the tools and strategies needed to be successful in the classroom is one way the resources and expertise in Lipscomb’s College of Education can serve the community,” said Jeanne Fain, lead faculty for Lipscomb’s English Language Learner program and associate professor of education. “The program seeks to enable participating low and moderate income students to maintain skills and encourage reading in the months between the spring closing of schools and the fall beginning of schools.”
Fain will serve as program director. Lead faculty for the language arts and enrichment blocks will be comprised of professors from Lipscomb’s College of Education.
Camp Explore is offered in partnership with J.E. Moss Elementary, an urban and Title I school in Nashville, strategically designed to support and teach young English Language Learners (Level 3, 4, 5 in language proficiency) and rising first through third graders and their families in English dominant classrooms as they learn to read strategically, write and respond to narrative, global and informational texts.
Camp faculty will participate in professional development in preparation for the program June 15-16. On June 17, camp faculty will host campers and their parents at a popsicle camp kick-off event at Nashville Public Library’s Southeast Branch. Families will have an opportunity to sign up for library cards at the event. Students will attend camp for four weeks, Monday through Friday, from June 20 to July 15 (except for July 4), from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“This schedule was designed to be responsive to the needs of the families, providing an all- day venue for children of working families,” said Fain. “The all-day format also allows for instruction that is individualized, supportive of learning needs, builds on oral language for all learners, and provides fun inquiry-based enrichment learning experiences.”
Students will participate in a variety of activities at the camp that reinforce concepts of print, alphabetic principle, basic conventions of writing, focus on phonics, word recognition, fluency and comprehension, integration of writing standards. Interactive read-aloud, guided reading, mini-writing workshops, music, art, dramatic arts, interactive games and literacy integrated into science and technology are among the camp’s planned activities. Enrichment focus components that focus on state standards in literature, informational texts, writing standards and language proficiency are also planned. Fain said those lessons will be integrated into units on “Animals in Nashville,” “CSI Science,” “The Power of Pictures and Photography” and “ Investigating and Analyzing Data as Scientists.” Morning field trips and afternoon discussion groups, writers’ workshops and publishing activities are planned for each Friday of the camp.
J.E. Moss has been strategically selected for its strong commitment to partnerships and family and community involvement. J.E. Moss Elementary School is one of the larger elementary schools in the MNPS district, serving 888 students. Of those, 94.4 percent are economically disadvantaged and 54.3 percent are English Learners. Camp Explore aims to increase achievement in reading and writing for 40 elementary students and build upon their strengths as readers and writers.
“Camp Explore: Reading and Writing in Nashville will utilize current research-based literacy strategies and increase the use of effective reading comprehension instructional practices among linguistically and culturally diverse children at J.E. Moss Elementary,” said Fain. “The camp will offer long-term successful reading experiences for children and families. Early childhood research suggests that these strategies, when taught in elementary education, are long lasting and become a ‘natural’ approach to learning and critical thinking.”
Camp Explore aims to create a research-based model and partnership on how to develop and improve literacy skills and motivation in culturally diverse and readers with emerging proficiency as demonstrated by literacy data. A goal of the project is to equip current elementary teachers teaching at J.E. Moss and other Title I MNPS schools as well as new teachers, in the effective use of research-based literacy strategies. Camp Explore will integrate literacy across the content areas through enrichment experiences with the assistance of key community partners. Fain said that Camp Explore will also engage families as literacy partners, building upon their strengths by providing meaningful literacy invitations to promote literacy achievement.
This project is a continuation of a yearlong literacy partnership between Lipscomb University and J.E. Moss Elementary School. In the past year, Fain has provided monthly professional development on reading strategies with multilingual learners, such as strategic read aloud, discussion strategies, and academic conversations with texts.
Earlier this spring, Lipscomb was awarded a $5,000 Read Indeed grant, and this yearlong partnership culminated with a “Ready to Read, Indeed” family literacy night on April 19, where more than 400 elementary students selected four books to take home to keep as part of their home libraries. Forty-eight Lipscomb University graduate students in ELL courses took part in this literacy event. The Lipscomb-J.E. Moss partnership will continue with ongoing professional development and literacy events with graduate students during the 2016-17 school year led by Fain.
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Education, is dedicated to helping students of limited economic means to acquire and/or maintain reading skills thereby increasing opportunity for greater educational success. SCORE drives collaboration on policy and practice to ensure student success across Tennessee. We are an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan advocacy and research institution, founded in 2009 by former U.S. Senator Bill Frist. SCORE works collaboratively to support K-12 education throughout Tennessee, and we measure our success by the academic growth of Tennessee’s students.
The Lipscomb University College of Education’s secondary teacher preparation program shares the No. 1 ranking in the nation by the National Council on Teacher Quality in its 2014 Teacher Prep Review. The college’s graduate program in the elementary grades was named No. 14 in the nation. In 2015, for the fifth year in a row, the College of Education was recognized by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission as one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in the state, listed among only five programs in the state. Lipscomb was also recognized as one of the two largest teacher preparation programs among all private universities in the state. In 2015, the College of Education was ranked the No. 15 best value in the nation by the National Council on Teacher Quality. In addition, the college was ranked among NCTQ's 35 "Top Colleges for Content Preparation" in the nation. The College of Education was named the 2016 Model of Excellence in Partnerships by the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education.
For more information about Lipscomb University’s College of Education, visit education.lipscomb.edu.