22/07/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 23/07/2024 18:27
A statewide literacy project designed to counteract the educational impacts of the pandemic is now in full swing, thanks to the efforts of educators in George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD).
Allison Ward Parsons. Photo by Office of University BrandingCalled the Literacy Engagement Action Project (LEAP)and designed to build literacy skills in K-12 students with a scalable, comprehensive program for teachers, students, and their families, the program is run by the Elizabeth G. Sturtevant, PhD, Center for Literacy at George Mason with center director Allison Ward Parsonsserving as the principal investigator.
Funding for this project through a U.S. Department of Education grant was made possible by the efforts of Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, who secured a $1.83 million designated spending provision as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 federal government appropriations bill.
The LEAP project addresses the needs of families, children, and teachers resulting from the negative impacts that the pandemic has had on K-12 learners, particularly those from marginalized or economically disadvantaged populations. "The project overall is geared toward post-COVID support, recognizing that many families know that their students need additional help," said Ward Parsons, an associate professor of the literacy program in CEHD's School of Education.
The need for this support is reflected in testing data collected by the state. Ward Parsons and her team members analyzed reading test scores compiled by the Virginia Department of Education and found significant gaps between students of wealthier backgrounds compared with those from economically disadvantaged communities, English language learners, and students from Black and Hispanic populations.
The main components of the LEAP project include:
As part of the LEAP project, book bins are being installed in various locations throughout Northern Virginia stocked with a curated set of books available for sharing with students and families.
Ward Parsons explains that this LEAP feature is patterned after the "take a book, leave a book" free mini-library movement that has become popular in many neighborhoods in cities across the United States. However, she adds that there is one distinguishing feature that makes the book sharing component unique: Each book contains a QR code linking back to an interactive reading guide that is accessible on the LEAP website.
These reading guides, formatted as PDF documents, contain conversation prompts, questions, vocabulary support, and suggested discussion topics related to the characters and plot of the book that families and tutors can use when they are reading and talking about the books with children.
"We want to go beyond a passive read-aloud where the student just sits and listens as the book is being read to them," Ward Parsons said. "We want children to be thinking about the text and to interact with the adult so that there is more opportunity for fluency and comprehension development in reading."
She points out that the reading guides encourage families and children to read together and that this can help support literacy development in young learners.
The sites being chosen for the book bins are places where families bring their children in accessing needed services, such as medical clinics, food banks, and homeless shelters. Families can engage their children in an interactive read-aloud of the books provided at these locations. They can also sign up on the LEAP website to receive their own copies of the books with more book sharing support. Book bins are also being placed at schools which have partnered with LEAP to provide spaces where tutors can work with children who have been identified as needing additional help with reading comprehension and literacy.
The LEAP project has made significant gains in its book distribution endeavors over the past year. Some of the most recently installed book bins include: the installation of community book bins with reading guides at General Heiser Boys and Girls Club in Dumfries; a community book bin at Ivy Rehab for Kids in Falls Church that will be available to families in the waiting room and used by staff speech-language pathologists and therapists during speech therapy visits; and, a community book bin at Fort Belvoir to support military-connected families.
In addition to establishing the book bins, LEAP faculty and staff are collaborating with communities in Northern Virginia as they launch initiatives in support of children's literacy. For example, in March and April this year, LEAP representatives organized four family workshops in the Georgetown South Community of Manassas, Virginia. These workshops were conducted in Spanish and included interactive read-alouds, as well as other activities designed to build vocabulary, background knowledge, and reading comprehension in children.
LEAP also hosted a two-week summer camp for elementary students in the Georgetown South community during which George Mason students provided daily literacy tutoring. The camp's theme centered on science and included experiments and other activities performed by the children who attended the camp which provided them with the opportunity to learn more about science while improving their reading comprehension skills.
Representatives of LEAP continued their work with members of the Georgetown South community with the introduction of a summer book club and lending library for students. In describing this initiative, Ward Parsons stated, "Our goal is to support summer reading and offer students opportunities to talk about their reading, get help as needed, and build a community of readers."
Other LEAP projects include:
Because the literacy resources and tutor training materials accessible on the LEAP website will continue to be maintained by the Sturtevant Center for Literacy beyond the life of the project, Ward Parsons and her team members are confident that this initiative will create a sustainable, practical model for literacy support in Virginia.
"These materials become a durable commodity, something that we can provide throughout Virginia and something that any school can use because it is all made available through federal funding that is specifically dedicated to the support of literacy," said Ward Parsons.