Berkeley County Schools
Berkeley County Schools Teacher Literacy Bootcamp
Berkeley County
Funded by the Steeley Foundation, this project will support a year-long high-quality professional learning project, which includes teachers from the four lowest-performing elementary schools in the county. The project will address the gap in primary grade literacy instruction and effective teacher training knowledge in foundational reading skill – phonemic awareness, phonics, print concepts, word recognition, vocabulary and writing. Participants include kindergarten, first, Title 1, SPED and literacy coaches. The program will run from May 2021 to May 2022. Success will be measured by the Yopp Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation and Words Their Way Spelling Inventory assessments.
This project is also partially funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle
On the Levels
Berkeley County
Funded by the Steeley Foundation, this project will support On the Levels, which is a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle, Berkeley County Schools, Norborne Preschool and Day Care and the Promise Neighborhood Initiative to provide day and summer learning to preschool students and their families. The COVID-19 gap, as well as high-risk factors of the identified students, will be addressed by extending day programming with in-person teachers and family sessions. This project connects school and center-based programs, placing teachers in a combined training and programming space to provide continuity. This project aims to provide an effective transition from the daycare setting to elementary schools, as well as to the Boys & Girls Club. The project will also include funding for tutors, personnel transportation and needed materials.
Jefferson County Schools
UpStream
Jefferson County
Funded by the Steeley Foundation, this project will support a summer learning opportunity at four summer camps held in various West Virginia locations, followed by an intensive after-school program during the school year. The project will target the most high-risk students from three low performing schools and will address the lack of background knowledge and literacy skills that can hinder students’ development and achievement in literacy. This project will forge several partnerships with nonprofit organizations, including Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle, Horses and Hearts and their program Horse Powered Reading, the Steeley Foundation, as well as Ranson, Driswood and North Jefferson Elementary Schools. Activities will include immersive experiences for underserved and marginalized students who typically do not have readily available literacy immersion through the arts, technology, engineering, science and math. Activities will also include innovative environmental interventions, live interactive theater, theme-based literacy activities and digital cataloging of activities. The project targets kindergarten through second grade students as well as low performing students.