2007-2008 Annual Report of Service - Shippensburg University

Institute for Public Service 15
College of Education & Human Services
Dr. James R. Johnson, Dean
Dr. Peggy Hockersmith, Associate Dean
Pennsylvania Department of
Education (PDE)/Shippensburg
University Reading Recovery
Initiative
Reading Recovery is a highly-successful
short-term intervention for lowest-performing
first-graders. Children receive thirty-minute
one-to-one daily lessons taught by specially
trained teachers. After just twelve to twenty
weeks, 75 percent of these lowest students
reach grade level standards.
By intervening early, Reading Recovery
helps to close the achievement gap between
lowest-achieving children and their peers
before the gap becomes too large to bridge.
Reading Recovery is the early safety net in
sixty-three Pennsylvania school district’s comprehensive
literacy plan.
Reading Recovery is not a packaged program
purchased by schools. It is a non-profit
partnership between universities and schools to
train teachers who then design individual lessons
that reduce the number of children who
will need long-term costly interventions. In
1993, Shippensburg University became a university
training site when Dr. Janet Bufalino
completed her training at The Ohio State
University to become a Reading Recovery
Trainer.
In December of 2007, Dr. Gerald
Zahorchak, Secretary of Education, contacted
Shippensburg University with a plan
to bring Reading Recovery to LEAs across
Pennsylvania. Dr. Zahorchak had seen the effectiveness
of Reading Recovery when he was
a superintendent in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
The goal of the initiative is for school districts
in Pennsylvania to have Reading Recovery
training offered within two hours of their
location. To meet this goal and to give every
first grade child who is falling behind their
classmates the necessary literacy support, the
Department of Education is offering financial
support to school districts that are approved
for Reading Recovery training.
During the 2008-09 school year, two
levels of training are being offered to school
districts who are designated as Reading
First School Districts or who have elementary
schools that have not met AYP. The
first level of training is Reading Recovery
Teacher Leader Training which is occurring
at Shippensburg University by Dr. Janet
Bufalino. These school district teacher leaders
hold a master’s degree and have been chosen
because of their leadership skills and interest
in supporting literacy for the lowest children in
their district and surrounding LEAs. Presently
there are two teacher leaders in training as part
of the initiative from Intermediate Unit 08/
Edinboro Consortium and Chester Upland
School District. In addition, Shippensburg
University is training two teacher leaders from
neighboring states: Howard County, MD and
Shenandoah, Virginia.
The second level of training is Reading
Recovery Teacher Training which is being
held across Pennsylvania by registered Reading
Recovery Teacher Leaders. All Teacher
Leaders who are offering classes as part of
the initiative are affiliated with Shippensburg
University as adjunct faculty members. Teacher
Training is occurring at the following teacher
training sites: Council Rocks School District,
Fox Chapel School District, Harrisburg
School District, Souderton School District
and Williamsport Area School District.
The initiative will continue into the 2009-
2010 school year. PDE will continue to support
approved school districts who adopt Reading
Recovery. The goals for the 2009-2010 school
year is to train seventy-five Reading Recovery
teachers from across Pennsylvania and to train
ten teacher leaders to support these teachers
and established sites.
Shippensburg University
Literacy Center
Outreach Activities 2007-2008
The Shippensburg University Literacy
Center, a comprehensive literacy partnership
connecting Shippensburg University’s College
of Education and Human Services, and its
advisory council, continues to strengthen the
support available for the purpose of increasing
reading proficiency among pre-school
and school-age children in this south-central
Pennsylvania community. The vision of the
SU Literacy Center works to maintain a literate
community environment that encourages
reading and writing enthusiastically as valued
lifelong activities, motivating and supporting
children and parents alike to be lifelong
readers and writers. This project continues to
maintain a strong university-based outreach
program which provides opportunities for
children in the community.
Programs that were offered during 2007-
2008 include a weekly individualized reading
tutoring program planned by pre-service
teachers, and two four-week summer reading
tutoring programs planned by graduate reading
students. Seminar in Literacy Tutoring undergraduate
students and Laboratory Practicum
in Reading graduate students at Shippensburg
University have offered children struggling
with reading acquisition the opportunity to
participate in a reading tutoring program, both
after school and during the summer, where an
individualized reading tutoring program was
planned to meet children’s reading needs in an
effort to improve academic standards achievement
in the area of reading.
Additionally, the Literacy Center coordinators
once again arranged local participation
in Jump Start’s Read for the Record on
October 2, 2008. Read for the Record supports
the trends of the public need for quality early
childhood programs and the emerging national
service movement recruiting thousands
of college students to community service. Our
participation in this yearly event promotes the
lifelong impact of one-to-one connections between
children and caring adults. This year, it
involved pairing our university students with
preschool and school-age children to hear the
book, Corduroy read aloud.
Finally, the SU Literacy Center has again
co-directed the Shippensburg’s Ready, Set,
Go! event on April 29, 2008 and October 28,
2008. Ready, Set, Go!, a Shippensburg community
event, is a partnership between the
Shippensburg University Literacy Center, the
Drew Michael Taylor Foundation, and the
Shippensburg Area School District. Students
currently enrolled in various literacy courses
including Reading in the Content Areas and
Teaching Reading to the English Language
Learner, are actively involved twice each year
with planning and implementing oral language
and literacy activities with children,
birth to age eight, and creating and supplying
literacy brochures for parents.
Shippensburg University
School Study Council
The Shippensburg University School
Study Council, in cooperation with the
Department of Educational Leadership
and Special Education, is a consortium of
school districts, vocational-technical schools,
and Intermediate Units working with the
University to improve instruction, communication
between educational agencies, and