The $25,000 grant comes from the Ohio Deans Compact and will allow the university to rework the curriculum to better align with the Science of Reading initiative.
Baldwin Wallace University has received a $25,000 Improving Literacy Partnership Incentive Grant from the Ohio Deans Compact. The school’s education department will be reworking its curriculum to align with the Science of Reading initiative, which seeks to improve the ways in which K-12 educators teach literacy. In addition to the reworked curriculum, the grant will also support the continued partnership the university has with Fairview Park City Schools, which gives direct insight into how teachers are teaching reading.
According to an article on Baldwin Wallace University, the two professors leading the charge as co-principal investigators on the grant are Dr. Rochelle Berndt and Dr. Cynthia Dietrich. Together, along with other education faculty members, the two will rework the curriculum of the education programs, including enhancing the syllabi, reworking the coursework, and reviewing and adopting new textbooks, all in the name of matching the Science of Reading initiative.
The purpose of these changes is to ensure education students leave the classroom prepared to work in elementary schools in compliance with Science of Reading directives. Berndt said, "Realigning our courses will enable our undergraduate and graduate students to be the best prepared in current literacy research, which will then positively impact the students they will teach in PreK-12.”
In addition to the revamped coursework, the grant is also facilitating the continuation of an existing partnership the university has with Fairview Park City School District’s Gilles-Sweet Elementary School. The teachers from the elementary school serve as guest lecturers in Baldwin Wallace education classrooms, providing direct and thorough insight into the ways in which teachers are actually teaching their students to read. In return, students from Gilles-Sweet are invited to attend the university’s Language, Literacy, and Learning Summer Camp.
Speaking of the partnership, Berndt said, "The current partnership centers on collaborative discussions between BW faculty and Fairview Park literacy teachers on the Science of Reading and how it is being implemented in their classrooms."
The hope is to expand the university’s partnerships with local elementary schools in the future.
For more information about Baldwin Wallace University, visit the school’s website.