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OU Educators Awarded Federal Grant to Improve Children's Literacy

NORMAN-University of Oklahoma early childhood educators and advocates are among only eight recipients nationwide of a new U.S. Department of Education grant program to improve children's early reading and language skills. The $1.52 million award supports Early Steps to Literacy Project, a collaboration of the Center for Early Childhood Professional Development in the College of Continuing Education, and the Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum in the College of Education.

Project director Ruth Ann Ball said the goal of Early Steps is to prepare early childhood educators to foster language and literacy competencies in low-income children in 14 of Oklahoma's counties with the highest poverty and illiteracy rates. Belinda Biscoe, interim assistant vice president for outreach, explained that this affords both OU colleges an opportunity to provide enhanced early literacy training to early childhood educators both within and outside the walls of the traditional university.

The Oklahoma project
will have three components:

1. Professional development for early childhood educators. Teachers and directors will receive college level instruction on emergent literacy, while administrators will be prepared for supporting teachers in new literacy practices, including coaching teachers and working with parents.

2. A support network and peer coaching for educators with a focus on promoting children's language and literacy development.

3. Training and support for an early literacy infrastructure, which will build and support connections between the child care, Head Start and public school communities.

The program will involve seven Oklahoma regions in which 75 percent of the state's low performing schools are located. Improvement of early childhood literacy skills is a priority of First Lady Laura Bush and US Secretary of Education Rod Paige. In July, Mrs. Bush hosted a two-day White House summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development with Paige and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson.

Joan Smith, dean of the College of Education, praised the Early Steps collaboration for bringing together "so many important partners to work for the well-being of Oklahoma children. This program will have a significant, far-reaching impact on our younger children," she said.

James Pappas, vice president for university outreach, agreed. "The award of this grant helps underscore our deep commitment to education at all levels," he said. "Certainly given the federal emphasis on early childhood education, the university is now positioned to be an important contributor to initiatives that will benefit our nation's young people."

The Early Steps to Literacy leadership team includes Ruth Ann Ball and Susan Kimmel, of the Center for Early Childhood Professional Development; Loraine Dunn and Sally Beach of the College of Education; and Belinda Biscoe, interim vice president for outreach in the College of Continuing Education.

A literacy consortium created to accomplish the initiative's objectives will include representatives from the Oklahoma Child Care Association; Early Childhood Association of Oklahoma/T.E.A.C.H; Oklahoma Department of Human Services Division of Child Care; Oklahoma City and Tulsa public school districts; Parents as Partners in Education; Oklahoma Head Start Collaboration Project, which includes agencies from throughout southern Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Tulsa; Southeastern Oklahoma State University; American Indian Institute; Oklahoma Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies; and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

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