Our Mission
A+ Education Foundation advances policies, programs and initiatives in Alabama's
K-12 education system that result in high achievement by every child.
|
Growth of the Alabama Reading Initiative
 1998-99
SCHOOL YEAR: NURTURED SUCCESS AND EXPANDED
- Started with 16 schools, called Literacy Demonstration Sites
(LDS)
- Paired each school with a Higher Education partner
- Visited each LDS three times
- Held three continuous development meetings for principals
- Formed an Advanced Study in Reading Committee (53 members)
to revise professional development modules
- Published success stories
- Planned an ARI professional development academy for 100 teacher
educators
- Wrote Translating Research Into Practice for NEA journal (white
document)
- Raised funds for the 1999 Summer Institutes
- Certified 200 presenters for 1999 Summer Institutes
- Completed the 1999 Summer Institutes for 3,000 new teachers
- Received funding from the legislature ($6,000,000) for 1999-2000
school year
- Awarded a $7,500,000 Reading Excellence Act Competitive Grant
from the U.S. Office of Education
1999-2000 SCHOOL YEAR - SUPPORTED SUCCESS AND EXPANDED
- Publicized the results from the external evaluation of Cohort
1 (16 LDS)
- Visited 60 of the 81 LDSs
- Supported the continuous development of teachers through
- Reading Specialists in the LDSs
- Higher Education Partners to each LDSs
- Monthly development sessions for the reading specialists
- Developed an Advanced Study for Reading Specialists entitled
Success with Struggling Readers
- Revised all professional development modules
- Certified 700 presenters for the Summer Institutes 2000
- Selected 179 new LDSs for a total of 267 schools
- Utilized Regional Inservice Centers to host 22 Summer Institutes
2000 in which 6,000 new ARI teachers were trained
2000-2001 SCHOOL YEAR - SUPPORTED SUCCESS AND EXPANDED
- Developed 207 reading specialists
- Reviewed evaluation data to discern contributors to success
- Strengthen the guidance provided principals
- Told the stories of highly successful sites
- Selected 160 new LDSs for a total of 424 schools
- Utilized Regional Inservice Centers to host 18 Summer Institutes
2001 in which 6,000 new ARI teachers were trained
|
 |
