The Calcasieu and Vernon parish school systems have been awarded money from a $12 million federal grant received by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to improve the reading and writing skills of struggling students.
Calcasieu received $703,000, and Vernon was awarded $351,500.
The federal grant aims to advance the preliteracy, reading and writing skills of disadvantaged youths — including English learners and students with disabilities.
{{tncms-inline content=”<p>’As we continue to promote critical thinking in our students as they progress through our system, building literacy skills is obviously at the forefront of our efforts.’</p> <p style="text-align: right;"><strong>Calcasieu superintendent</strong></p>” id=”8e113ebd-80a0-4662-861b-68285545d180″ style-type=”quote” title=”Pull Quote” type=”relcontent”}}
Louisiana was one of 11 states selected to benefit from the grant, and the only state to receive the award three consecutive times, said State Superintendent John White.
“Louisiana’s fourth-graders saw more growth in reading than others in the nation on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress,” White said in a news release. “We’ve made great progress, but there is still much left to do.”
White said more than half of Louisiana students are prepared when they enter kindergarten, but by fourth grade only 36 percent read and write on grade level.
“This grant will accelerate our efforts by providing students and families with a strong foundation based in research and by supporting a cadre of reading and writing educator experts across the state,” White said.
Calcasieu Superintendent Karl Bruchhaus said literacy is “the cornerstone of everything we do in education.”
“As we continue to promote critical thinking in our students as they progress through our system, building literacy skills is obviously at the forefront of our efforts,” he said.
Bruchhaus said the grant money for Calcasieu will be used to provide additional resources to bolster reading instruction and provide additional professional development on “best practices for helping students to grow.”
Anne Smith, director of elementary curriculum for Vernon Parish, said the parish will use the grant to focus on advancing the reading and writing skills of disadvantaged youth on five of their campuses.
“We are excited to receive this grant as we strive to improve instruction,” she said. “This grant will give us teacher training as well as provide us with high-quality, Tier I curriculum that will help our teachers to improve instruction for all of these students.”
‘As we continue to promote critical thinking in our students as they progress through our system, building literacy skills is obviously at the forefront of our efforts.’
Calcasieu superintendent