����ֱ��

The University of Louisville College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development (CEHD) has received an $80,000 grant to boost reading skills in young children.

��

The grant from the Kentucky Council on Post-Secondary ����ֱ�� will allow CEHD professors to provide professional development to 30 Kentucky educators as part of the Kentucky Department of ����ֱ��’s Read to Achieve (RTA) program.

��

RTA grants support teachers in implementing evidence-based instructional strategies that address the diverse needs of primary students struggling with low reading levels.

��

The UofL Structured Literacy Project (UL-SLP) will tackle this growing concern through the training of K-3 teachers. Co-directors are Amy Seely Flint, department chair and professor in elementary, middle & secondary teacher education; Todd Whitney, assistant professor and assistant chair in special education, early childhood & prevention science; and Justin Cooper, associate professor and department chair in special education, early childhood & prevention science.

��

The three co-directors have extensive knowledge in reading and multi-tier support systems.��

��

The one week, in-person summer training will focus on structured literacy approaches and valid and reliable universal screener and diagnostic data.

��

“This is an in-depth professional development opportunity for teachers,” said Seely Flint. “It’s like a literacy camp in some ways and participants will be able to immediately incorporate this into their classroom practice.”

��

UL-SLP will recruit participants through an array of partners like the Southeast South-Central ����ֱ��al Cooperative and the Ohio Valley ����ֱ��al Cooperative.��

��

“Not only is this a great opportunity for teachers but it’s also an opportunity for us to work with educational co-ops and get into schools that we don’t typically work with,” Cooper said.

��

The teachers will learn essential background knowledge, phonological and phonemic awareness, decoding and word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, language comprehension, and using assessments to differentiate instruction.��

��

“We’re really confident in this project because it will address the need for explicit and systematic instruction in the five areas of reading,” Whitney said.

��