The Smith Mall canal at University of Indianapolis looking toward Lilly Science Hall on Sept. 2.
Andy Bell-Baltaci | Daily Journal
The University of Indianapolis’ Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning, or CELL, will be leading a program with a goal of improving childhood literacy.
The program is made possible through a grant of up to $60 million through Lilly Endowment Inc., supplemented by an up to $51 million investment from the Indiana Department of Education. With the program, state leaders hope to increase IREAD-3 reading proficiency scores from the 2022 state rate of 81.6% to a target of 95% in 2027, said Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education.
The combined $111 million is the state’s largest investment in early literacy development, according to a news release from CELL.
“We know, through a body of research, if children are able to read by the end of third grade, it will have an impact on graduation and if they are going to graduate,” Jenner said. “It impacts other life implications, including quality of health or sustainable income or the type of job they can get.”
The highest reading proficiency Hoosier third graders have achieved was a 91% IREAD mark during the 2012-13 school year, and scores have dropped during the pandemic, she said.
The initiative started with about 50 elementary schools engaged in a pilot program since the start of the school year. The money from the Lilly grant and IDOE investment supports training and curricular materials in the Science of Reading method, as well as paying the salaries of literacy coaches who work with school instructional assistants to reform literacy practices, said Carey Dahncke, CELL’s executive director.
CELL will take the lead on training those specialists, Dahncke said.
Although Johnson County elementary schools are not included in the pilot program, they could be part of the next wave of schools in the program. The IDOE hopes to reach 60% of elementary schools by the 2025-26 school year, according to the news release.
“This program proposes we train all the teachers in high-yield instructional strategies. Other states have adopted practices and strategies to make sure the workforce is trained in those strategies, and in those states, reading scores have gone up,” Dahncke said. “In Mississippi, reading scores had been dismal for a very long time and the state decided to work on systematic processes to make sure all teachers coming into the field had training in effective methodologies. Reading scores increased while, nationally, scores were dropping.”
The science of reading method emphasizes phonics and phonetic awareness in making sure students can interpret what they’re reading and go from learning to read to reading to learn, Jenner said.
“The Science of Reading is really understanding how we can best teach students, and understanding how to best make sure we’re doing everything we can to promote student learning and reading,” Jenner said. “We will be working urgently with schools to identify interest and identify some specific schools we’ll target. From there, we’ll work to determine the best person to serve in that coach position.”
The IDOE and CELL will also work to meet the needs of students in poverty, English language learners, and Black and Hispanic students, populations that, on average, score lower than the state proficiency rate, Jenner said.
The investment will help expand the number of students CELL can reach, Dahncke said.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” he said. “It’s an enormous investment in a very positive direction. It dramatically increases the number of schools we can serve.”
