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PLEASE NOTE: I included this as a PDF version for formatting purposes.
For the past 3 years we have been doing a Literacy project for the students at Sun View Elementary School. Each year our Literacy project grows and has even inspired the school to start a reading exchange program that they started at the end of last year. This year we would like our Literacy project to include Computer Literacy.
COMPUTER LITERACY
For every twenty 9th graders, 6 drop out.
• Of those remaining fourteen students
o 6 graduates are work bound.
o 8 become college freshman
Of those eight, 4 are college drop outs and 4 are college graduates
Of those four college graduates, 2 secure high skills/high wage occupations.
• The other 2 are underemployed
• 2009-2010 Orange County's overall UC/CSU eligibility rates dropped from 40.3% to 36.2%. The following are eligibility rates by ethnicity:
o Asians 63% - 37% need remediation
o Filipions 50% - 50% need remediation
o Whites 40.8% - 59.2% need remediation
o Latinos 19.8% - 80.2% need remediation
Why are the above statistics true? Our educational System is note meeting the needs of all the students today. What actions must be takedn to meet the 21st cetnruy needs of ALL our students....Common Core State Standards.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) spurred a drive to accountability, received widespread support for one of its principal goals. The system served the children that came into it with every advantage, however too many students who needed help were failing. This achievement gap could only be understood on who was ailing and how bad the problem was. This required that student performance be reported by subgroup, NCLB had the virtue of shining a light on underserved students.
Unfortunately, the pressure of grade-by grade assessments that were not tied to the on-going instruction had a distorting effect of the curriculum. At the system level, any subject besides reading, writing and math lost time and attention (science recovered once state assessments were added for that discipline). Teachers, especially those whose state standards were "over-identified," had to decide which subjects to focus on and which could be safely ignored. Now, more state assessments are aligned to well-written standards and designed to further student learning, which can provide useful diagnostic information.
Two state consortia - the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) have won grants from the US Department of Education to create common state assessment systems for the Common Core State Standards for grades 3-8 and high school. Each state needs to join a consortium.
The SBAC (the consortia California has chosen) includes a required summative exam. This online exam will use adaptive-testing technology and be offered twice each year administered during the last 12 weeks of the school year in grades 3-8 and high school. Benchmark exams, called interim assessments are optional and may be given at locally determined intervals during the year. They will be available to cover specific content clusters or to be more comprehensive. Termed formative assessments, these require a significant teacher role in developing and scoring constructed-response items and performance tasks. These tests do not contribute to the students final score but are designed to provide a better understanding of students' strengths and limitations through tailored online reports that are linked to instructional and professional development resources.
Both the PARCC and the SBAC are committed to using technology to produce quick turnaround times for test results and to develop interactive, enhanced test items.
The basis of the Common Core Standards is to help prepare students for success in College, Career, and a Global Economy. One of the 7 Common Core "Habits of Mind" is to Use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
With the new state testing and national focus on literacy requires the students at Sun View to be computer literate. Next year's state test will require each student to take the language arts and math assessments on a computer (3 hours for each test, meaning a total of 6 testing hours on a computer). Students will have to manipulate, draw, move things around the screen, read long passages, watch a video and respond in writing on the computer. This is a big shift from the "old" testing/assessment methods of having students choose from multiple choice a, b, c and then bubbling in the correct bubble. None of these new formative assessments are currently in place, meaning in addition to adjusting a new testing/assessment style; the more computer literate a student is, will affect the way they take the test.
The of the 300 students that attend Sun View:
• 74% are low socioeconomic status
• 45% are English Language Learners
• 21% are Special Ed (diagnostic)
The Principal, teachers, faculty and staff at Sun View believe it is their job to get their kids exposure, familiarized and ready by next year when the new assessments are required. In education, early intervention is critical. To accomplish this, their goal is to fund a computer lab for their K-2 students to provide their students with the essentials tools that they need to be successful.
Lower income children often do not have the means to have access a computer at home or have someone to take them to the library (or somewhere) to teach them to use a computer. By having a computer lab, students will not only have access to a computer but will have instruction and help on how to use them. By helping the students become computer literate, we hope to overcome any disadvantage they may have had without this access/education when taking these new assessments.
After purchasing our books for the Summer Reading Literacy part of the project we will have $5300 for the computer lab. Sun View had the hopes of starting the computer lab with at least 15 computers (to be purchased this month). With these funds we will be able to fund the computer lab with 17 refurbished computers ($192.50 per computer) that have 3-year Microsoft office licenses ($77 per computer). I have included the original quote (for 15 computers) for your reference.
LITERACY - SUMMER READING
Many children tend to fall behind during the summer unless they are given the attention and resources they need during these months. Having access to books during the summer helps to reinforce good learning habits and is critical to maintaining a child's achievement level. Children who lack the access to books and the opportunities to read will fall behind each summer. During the school year, lower-income children's skills improve at close to the same rate as their more advantaged peers - but over the summer, middle- and upper-income children's skills continue to improve, while lover-income children's skills do not. (Alexander, 2007)
It has been said that by the age of 9 children are learning to read...after age 9 children read to learn. Children that do not learn to read by age 9 often perform lower and become low achievers; don't go to college or even drop out of school. Because of this they are less likely to get jobs and may even turn to drugs or criminal activities. The purpose of the our Summer Reading Literacy Project is to promote literacy to our youth and encourage them to learn to read; with the hopes of having them learn to like or even love to read. To accomplish this our goal is to deliver Summer Reading "Gifts" to each student and have read aloud sessions to the students upon delivery.
Sun View Elementary School is one of the lowest performing schools in Huntington Beach. You often find that children that attend these lower performing schools can often come from lower-income families and they don't or won't have access to reading material over the summer. Here are the 2013 Sun View CST scores:
• Grade 2 English Language Arts - 43% proficient or better
• Grade 3 English Language Arts - 31% proficient or better
• Grade 4 English Language Arts - 76% proficient or better
• Grade 5 English Language Arts - 64% proficient or better
Here are the student counts for each grade level:
K - 47
1 - 45
2 - 55
3 - 36
4 - 53
5 - 57
We will be "wrapping" each Summer Reading Packet with ribbon to create added excitement and show that it is "fun" to get books as gifts. By showing our children that it is fun to read (during the read-aloud sessions) and giving them reading materials that BELONG to them and that they can trade or borrow from/with their friends; we are encouraging the reading and learning process. In addition to the reading packets each book will come with a handout/worksheet that we will include in the gifts to help with reading comprehension.
Upon approval of the grant we will order the books from Scholastic. Once the books arrive we will have members of our club assemble each Summer Reading Packet with the appropriate number of books. We have scheduled with the school May 31st as our delivery date. On this day we will "present" the books at their Flag assembly in which the entire school (students, faculty and staff) along with some parents attend. Following the assembly we intend to have "read-aloud" sessions to the grade levels as we pass out the books).
We plan to purchase either School Readiness Packs (5 books per pack) or STEM Packs (5 books per pack). Maybe more (Packs so we can give the students more than one book, or additional books for their library or their reward system (if a student aquires a certain amount of points they get to exchange them for a book on the reward shelf to take home and keep)) if we get donations (for this part of the project) from our members.
It is our intent to stuff each book with its corresponding Think Sheet (a worksheet with activities/questions that pertain to the book to help promote reading comprehension) and "wrap" it in a ribbon (to promote the "gift" of reading). We will also be stuffing the book with a book mark with their school logo and the 4 way test on the back and stickering the inside of the book with their School logo. The bookmarks and stickers will be made and printed by one of our club members. Our club members will assist in stuffing, wrapping and stickering the books.
Our members will also participate in the book presentation. In May or June we will be at the schools Flag Assembly where we will be introduced, we will then have 3 read aloud sessions where members will read books to the students and pass out their gifts.
The new catalog is not yet available for the books, I have enclosed last year's catalog as I am informed by my scholastic contact that the prices of the packs will not change this year. I estimate that this project will cost about $1200.
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