Staff Report
The UNM College of Education and Albuquerque Public Schools will celebrate the first year of a program that provides professional development in literacy for middle and high school teachers.
A reception to honor donors and demonstrate the project’s success will be held today from 4-6 p.m. at the Sandia High School Media Center, 7801 Candelaria Rd. N.E.
The Secondary Schools Literacy Project, initially funded through a $100,000 challenge grant from Wells Fargo Bank, is designed to provide teachers with specialized assistance through professional development workshops to help students at the secondary school level who did not obtain sufficient reading and writing skills in the lower grades.
“This program is right up our alley,” Larry Willard said in a news release.
Willard is the chief executive officer and regional president of Wells Fargo Bank.
“It touches on two of our highest community priorities — economic development and education,” he said. “With dedicated teachers working on strong programs like the SSLP, the impact of literacy on education and jobs in our community cannot be understated. That’s good for all of us, but we’re especially glad to be reaching youth who might otherwise miss out.”
The project has exceeded expectations, with more than 108 teachers participating at 38 schools — a 27 percent higher school participation rate than projected in the original proposal.
The Secondary Schools Literacy Project is now reaching 10 of the 11 high schools, 21 of the 25 middle schools and seven of the nine alternative high schools in Albuquerque. Each of the schools has one or two literacy leaders who facilitate study and literacy groups.
Two-thirds of the schools have active literacy groups, which comprise at least five teachers, that meet monthly. The teachers, from across disciplines, discuss strategies on how to reach good readers in their classes as well as how to teach reading in specific content areas, such as social studies, math and language. The study groups offer a place to share information and receive feedback, with the overall goal to improve teaching skills.
About half the teachers took part in a Secondary Schools Literacy Project participated in a weeklong Summer Institute held last year as part of the project. The teachers interacted with an average of 120 students per day.
“More than 12,000 students are impacted by the work of this initiative everyday,” said Roberta Smith, director of the UNM COE Professional Development Collaborative. “These numbers are a strong indicator that middle and high school teachers have interest in not only participating in study groups to improve their ability to teach ‘reading to learn’ strategies, but also in meeting the specific content understanding needs of their students.”
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Smith added that it is evident that the Secondary Literacy Leaders Project is flourishing in the Albuquerque Public Schools because the teachers in the project are bringing about change. She said they are infusing improved literacy throughout the district.
“The SSLP has filled a huge void for many secondary teachers,” said Dr. Beth Everitt in a news release. Everitt is the APS Secondary Literacy Leaders Project administrator. “Teachers tell me it is the first support they have experienced that directly related to their classroom challenges.”
In response to the $100,000 challenge grant from Wells Fargo Bank, APS and the APS Foundation have provided diverse support, ranging from filling a new administrative position with someone to oversee the project to funding for professional development workshops and release time for teachers to participate.
Other matching funds were acquired from the Sandia Foundation, U.S. West/Qwest and Duffy and Jean Ann Swan. The additional funding was obtained through the work of the UNM Foundation as well as the College of Education Development Office and Professional Development Collaborative.
“I am very pleased with the far-reaching success of the first year of the SSLP project,” Viola Florez, UNM College of Education dean, said in a news release. “By addressing the issue of secondary-level literacy education, the initiative focuses resources and talent on an area of very high need. This is great news for public education in New Mexico, because no students should be allowed to ‘fall between the cracks.’”
