Improving Literacy Through School Libraries FY 2006

Abstracts

Arranged in State Order and Numerical Order
Alabama

S364A060342

Board of Commissioners of Mobile County

P.O. Box 1327

Mobile, AL 36633-1327

Katherine T. Bekurs

(251) 221-4056

Recommended Grant: $299,118

The Mobile County Public Schools System will implement Students and Parents Actively Reading Are the Keys to Success (SPARKS!) in 10 elementary library media centers serving over 4,600 students. Using funds from the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries grant program, the district will improve student reading skills and achievement by increasing the library media centers’ collections with current books and materials, acquiring up-to-date technological resources, extending the hours of operation of the centers, offering parents the use of family literacy kits for at-home reading experiences, organizing family literacy events to be held at each school, providing training for parents in the use of digital technology and on-line resources, and collaborating with local public libraries by providing student incentives for participation in the Mobile Public Library’s summer reading program.

S364A060491

Franklin County Board of Education

500 Coffee Avenue

Russellville, AL 35633

Susan Hargett

(256) 331-0005

Recommended Grant: $300,000

The Franklin County School System serves 3,022 students in grades pre-K through 12 in six rural schools. Through the Family Involvement Reading Services Time (F.I.R.S.T.) program, the district will open the school libraries during evening hours, summer months, and on rotating weekends for students, teachers, parents, and community members; purchase print and non-print materials to expand the library collections; establish better connectivity and Web links to public and university collections; provide classes and activities for all ages to ensure that the libraries are fully utilized; and recognize the Franklin County Schools Libraries as community centers for lifelong learning. Librarians will be trained to collaborate with teachers about technology to stress the link between the schools and their communities in creating an environment rich in information and building literacy for all.
Alaska

S364A060358

Iditarod Area School District REAA #1

P.O. Box 90

McGrath, AK 99627

Karen Ladegard

(907) 524-3033

Recommended Grant: $206,055

The Iditarod Area School District (IASD) is headquartered in McGrath, Alaska in Alaska’s interior on the Kuskokwim River, 221 miles northwest of Anchorage. IASD serves eight communities and eight schools ranging in size from 10 to 60 students, and enrolls 346 students in grades K through 12. The communities are linked by air travel only; there are no roads connecting the eight schools. Funds from the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries grant program will be used to support the hiring of a certified library media specialist who will identify existing resources at the schools, order new materials, and train staff on ways to improve literacy by integrating non-fiction trade books, magazines, and multi-media materials into all content areas. The library media specialist will also provide training in library skills and information literacy to all library aides and classroom teachers, primarily by video and audio conference delivery, but also through district-wide in-service trainings and occasional site visits.

S364A060371

Kashunamiut School District

985 Ksd Way

Chevak, AK 99563

Gary Stevens

(907) 858-7713

Recommended Grant: $277,525

The Kashunamiut School district is a one-site school district housing Chevak School, a school that serves a remote rural community of 900 Cup’ik Eskimos located in the wilderness 650 miles west of Anchorage. The school itself serves 328 students. There is no public library; the school library is the only repository of the written word in the village of Chevak. With funds from the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the school district will add to the collection, add technology to the library media center, hire a library media specialist, and offer the library media center’s resources to students, families, and community members during extended hours.

Arkansas

S364A060161

Augusta School District

320 Sycamore

Augusta, AR 72006

Richard Blevins

(870) 345-2241

Recommended Grant: $282,029

The Augusta School District’s Project SuccesStory will improve the literacy skills of students at two elementary schools. Using funds from the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the district will expand library hours of operation for an additional hour during the school week and four hours on Saturday, acquire up-to-date and high quality print and non-print materials to enhance the existing library collection, and install state-of-the-art technology and equipment in the library media center. The district will also increase the number of family literacy nights from two to four per year. Finally, the program will provide professional development for teachers and library media staff in library/classroom collaboration, early childhood literacy, technology integration, and curriculum construction.

S364A060405

Hoxie School District #46

305 S.W. Alice

Hoxie, AR 72433

Glenda Jones

(870) 886-9537

Recommended Grant: $231,697

The Hoxie School District’s Books and Beyond (BAB) program will serve 478 students at the Hoxie School (K-6). The program seeks to increase students’ technological skills, increase parental involvement, reduce the number of students performing below instructional reading level, and increase students’ oral reading fluency. In order to achieve these objectives, the district will update the collection of books in the library media center; install new computers and software programs that address phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and fluency; and establish after school and summer library programs. It will also provide district library media specialists and teachers with professional training to help them effectively develop and deliver collaborative lesson plans, assessments, and assignments.

California

S364A060138

Kings Canyon Unified School District

675 W. Manning Ave.

Reedley, CA 93654

Carol Doerksen

(559) 626-5910

Recommended Grant: $299,384

Kings Canyon Unified School District’s Bridging the Achievement Gap through Strong School Libraries (BAGSSL) project will serve 8,800 K through 12 students at 16 schools. The district will purchase books and other resources that are aligned to the core curriculum, including early reader books that assist K through 8 English language learners in their independent reading; create a centralized Web-based library management system; support collaboration between library media specialists, teachers, and students on standards-based research projects; and expand the hours of the school library media centers.

S364A060247

Lindsay Unified School District/Global Learning, Inc.

519 East Honolulu

Lindsay, CA 93247

Tom Rooney

(559) 562-5111

Recommended Grant: $287,753

The Lindsay Unified Schools District’s Cultivating Library Access and Student Success (CLASS) Project will help close the achievement gap by providing needed resources and technology focused on the unique needs of English learners and children in grades K-3. Through this project, the district will add over 4,200 new books, 100 periodicals, and other essential print resources to libraries at five schools; ensure that each school library has a fully networked computer lab, and other advanced technology to support literacy development. The district will offer 80 hours of training and other professional support to all library staff and selected teachers in media literacy, research skills, library science, learning technology, and literacy skills. The district will also increase library access before and after school and in the summer.

S364A060259

Lamont Elementary School District

7915 Burgundy Avenue

Lamont, CA 93241-1350

Dianne Eash

(661) 845-5170

Recommended Grant: $300,000

The Lamont School District is a K through 8 district located in an unincorporated rural farming community of Lamont, California. Presently, the Lamont Elementary School library has less than 16 books per students, less than 600 books in Spanish, and cannot provide adequate technology training for staff, students or parents. With funds from the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the district will purchase new books, in both English and Spanish, in order to bring the student/book ratio to federal standards (1:20); acquire new technology; provide training to library staff, teachers, and students in utilizing the new technology; provide professional development to library staff, parents, and teachers on collaborating to support student literacy; and expand library hours during the evenings, the summer, and during Winter Academy (a 6-week special session).

S364A060281

National School District

1500 N Avenue

National City, CA 91950

Ellen C. Curtin

(619) 336-7751

Recommended Grant: $299,988

The National School District’s Cultivating Library Access and Student Success (CLASS) project will create 10 CLASS Project Library Centers to serve as focal points for literacy development and reading support at 10 participating schools. These centers will improve the literacy skills of 6,230 students in grades K-6. To create these centers, the district will add over 4,000 new books, 100 periodicals, and other essential print resources to the libraries. To ensure that each school library has a fully networked computer lab, computer projectors, digital video cameras, state-of-the-art software, and other advanced technology to support literacy development will be purchased through the grant. The National School District will deliver training and other professional support to all library staff and selected teachers in media literacy, research skills, library science, learning technology, and literacy skills. Finally the program will expand library access hours; and facilitate quarterly trainings and monthly meetings to increase collaboration between library staff and teachers.

S364A060291

Sonoma County Office of Education/Roseland Elementary School District

950 Sebastopol Road

Santa Rosa, CA 95407-6872

Rebecca Packer

(707) 545-0100

Recommended Grant: $166,395

The Roseland Elementary School District’s Information Partnership project will provide additional media, technology, and print resources to Roseland’s 824 K through 3 students, particularly the 629 English Language Learners enrolled at the district’s elementary schools. The district will utilize grant funds to augment Roseland and Sheppard Elementary Schools’ existing K through 3 comprehensive plan of early literacy instruction. It will purchase new fiction and non-fiction books that are aligned with the schools’ research-based reading curricula, acquire new technology, increase its online reference and information resources for teachers and students, expand library hours during summer school, and provide professional development for the school library staff consistent with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards for Media Literacy.

S364A060324

Glendale Unified School District

223 North Jackson St.

Los Angeles, CA 91206

Joanna Junge

(818) 241-3111

Recommended Grant: $297,360

The Glendale Unified School District’s Libraries = Literacy (L2) project will address the needs of all 14,033 elementary school students in the district’s 20 elementary schools. The district will reorganize the schools’ library collections by weeding the out-of-date books and ordering new materials that conform to national and state standards and to the California State Curriculum guidelines. This will reactivate the Sagebrush Spectrum Union Catalog, linking all 29 school libraries. The project will also provide one-on-one professional development for library paraprofessional staff and patron training for teachers, students, administrators, volunteers, parents, and other stakeholders in the use of the Union Catalog.

S364A060391

Merced Union High School District

3420 A Street

Atwater, CA 95301

Sylvia Smith

(209) 385-6572

Recommended Grant: $300,000

The Merced Union High School District, located in California’s San Joaquin Valley, serves 9,631 students in five high schools in the cities of Merced, Atwater, and Livingston. The district will procure 8,021 new books for the five high school campus sites, distributed by student enrollment. The books will be chosen for maximum impact upon student test scores and in consideration of the student demographics, and will include “high interest” fiction for low reading levels, multi-cultural novels by Hispanic and East Indian authors, titles recommended for the Accelerated Reader Program, and foreign language fiction. The district will not utilize grant funds for the purpose of advanced technology, providing professional development, or facilitating internet links, as those needs have already been met through other sources.

S364A060422

Ukiah Unified School District

925 South Street

Ukiah, CA 95482-3470

Dolores Fisette

(707) 463-5213

Recommended Grant: $154,219

The Ukiah Unified School District’s Literacy Links program will increase the reading and academic achievement of Ukiah High School’s 1,914 students by providing new print and non-print materials, new online resources, a Library Links Web page, and a technologically advanced library media center computer lab. These activities will be accomplished through collaborative efforts of the library media specialist, teachers, students, and parents. The hiring of a part-time library technician will extend the library hours, enabling the library media specialist to provide professional development to teachers on the use of resources to improve student achievement. All schools in the district will benefit through the training of K-8 library technicians to support reading in their libraries by the district’s library media specialist.

Georgia

S364A060488

Troup County School System

200 Mooty Bridge Road

LaGrange, GA 30240

Pat Barton

(706) 812-7900

Recommended Grant: $266,502

The Troup County Library Literacy Initiative will update inadequate, out-of-date resources in 13 elementary school libraries, aligning the new resource materials with Georgia State Performance Standards and supporting content enrichment in the areas of science and nonfiction. The program will also build a technology infrastructure to support an expanded presence for the libraries in instruction and professional development, expand periods of time when access to library materials are available, and provide professional development that will more effectively align trained library staff with school faculty. The program will serve over 5,200 low-income students in rural, Title I elementary schools.

Idaho

S364A060336

Canyon County School District

1101 Cleveland Blvd.

Caldwell, ID 83605-3896

Norma Jean Sprouffske

(208) 445-3300

Recommended Grant: $300,000

Canyon County School District’s Libraries and Literacy through New Connections (LLiNC) program will ensure improved student reading skills and overall academic performance for the district’s 6,108 students. The program will increase access to up-to-date school library materials and provide well-equipped and technologically advanced school library media centers. Activities will include purchasing curricular-aligned library books and materials, enhancing access through extended hours to school library media centers, and acquiring equipment and software to support resource-sharing networks.

Illinois

S364A060180

Kankakee School District 111

240 Warren Ave.

Kankakee, IL 60901-4319

Kristen Ross

(815) 929-8832

Recommended Grant: $300,000

The Kankakee School District’s Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program will address the needs of all 5,277 students in the district’s 11 schools. The district will use grant funds to improve library media center resources and ensure that the new resources are aligned to both the district curriculum and the Illinois Learning Standards. It will also support an independent reading program to improve student achievement in reading and increase the availability of media staff to students and teachers by expanding the library hours. In addition, it will provide staff development to increase effective collaboration and the integration of media services into the curriculum and instruction.

S364A060370

Chicago Public Schools

1326 West 14th Place

Chicago, IL 60608

Paul K Whitsitt

(773) 553-6215

Recommended Grant: $298,678

Chicago Public Schools District #299’s ABC’s of Library Literacy Programming initiative seeks to improve (A) Access, (B) Best practice professional development, and (C) Collaboration in 10 elementary schools serving 6,728 students. The district will specifically target improved literacy among first and second graders. The initiative will add up-to-date media resources to the schools’ libraries, increase the amount of time students in lower grades can spend in the library, provide professional development to assist librarians in more effectively enhancing student reading achievement, to educate parents in supporting student literacy at home, and increase collaboration among librarians, classroom teachers, and Lead Literacy Teachers (site-based reading coaches).

Kansas

S364A06032

Kansas City Kansas Public Schools

635 Minnesota Ave.

Kansas City, KS 66101

Wendy J. Donnell

(913) 627-4355

Recommended Grant: $292,976

The goal of the Kansas City Kansas Public School System Zap the Gap: Read to Succeed program is to increase the reading achievement of all 17,085 students in the district’s 37 schools. This will be done through increasing access to reading resources, empowering students to choose their own reading materials, having culturally and topic relevant materials, increasing recreational reading, and ultimately bringing back the power of reading for young people. As a year round program, it will also eliminate the “summer slump” that occurs when students are away from the educational setting for months at a time.

Kentucky

S364A060213

Monroe County Board of Education

309 Emberton Street

P.O. Box 10

Tompkinsville, KY 42167

Kirk Biggerstaff

(270) 487-6217

Recommended Grant: $127,728

Monroe County School District’s Literacy Enabling Achievement of Proficiency (LEAP) Project will improve literacy and library services at the district’s five schools, serving 1,985 students. The goal of Project LEAP is to increase reading scores on the Kentucky Core Content Test by 5% for all students tested in reading and close the reading achievement gaps based on gender and socio-economic status of students at all levels by 5%. This will be accomplished by updating the library collections with new materials that are aligned with each of the school’s curriculum; updating each library with instructional, literacy-related technology; facilitating Internet links and resource sharing networks that will allow students to access curriculum-related information in a more efficient manner; providing professional development to reading teachers, library media specialists, and administrators on reading and literacy strategies; and increasing access to the libraries by extending school library hours during after-school hours, selected Saturdays, and during the summer.