George Mason launches literacy project to support Virginia families

Colleen Rich — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 18:01:30 +0000

George Mason launches literacy project to support Virginia families Colleen Rich Mon, 07/22/2024 - 14:01

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 ��AV’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD).

Allison Ward Parsons. Photo by Office of University Branding

Called 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 Parsons serving 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:

Community outreach and support where families are provided with free access to books and other literacy resources that include workshops, podcasts, read-aloud events at public libraries, and other venues;
A website, leap.cehd.gmu.edu, developed by the Sturtevant Center for Literacy, that is accessible on its own as a stand-alone site as well as through the main Literacy Center home page (the LEAP website provides tools such as video modules offered in English and Spanish that explore different topics in literacy, activity links supporting various aspects of literacy development across grade levels, and interactive reading guides for literary genres that include comprehension tips applicable to specific age groups);
Tutoring of K-12 learners given by George Mason students who must successfully complete a series of LEAP training modules and pass required background checks conducted by partnering schools (once approved, tutors are provided with lesson plans and tutoring support materials developed by the LEAP team and which are available on the Literacy Center’s website); and
Asynchronous online teacher professional learning modules (now under development), which include content that meets teacher needs assessment and enhances teacher engagement (once finalized, these materials will be housed on the LEAP website).

LEAP bookshelf at Fair Lakes Barnes and Noble. Photo provided

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:

A bookshelf at Fair Lakes Barnes & Noble bookstore;
A family/student literacy workshop and summer STEM read-aloud that was held at the Fort Belvoir military base in Northern Virginia;
A series of three children’s events at the Fairfax City branch of the Fairfax County Public Libraries (following one of these events the library requested a full set of printed reading guides, which are now compiled and displayed in the children’s section for easy patron access);
A partnership with the Fair Lakes Barnes & Noble bookstore where the QR codes linking to the LEAP reading guides are posted throughout the children’s section so that a reader browsing the shelves will see the content developed by LEAP alongside the corresponding books;
A Back-to-School Book Fair to be held Aug. 17 at the Fair Lakes Barnes and Noble bookstore through which a portion of the proceeds from the sale of books will go to the Sturtevant Center for Literacy to purchase books that will be shared with community partners; and,
A back-to-school event sponsored by Micron and Barbershop Books.

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.

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To ensure effective early reading instruction, invest in teachers, says Mason professor

Colleen Rich — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 20:12:32 +0000

To ensure effective early reading instruction, invest in teachers, says Mason professor Colleen Rich Thu, 06/03/2021 - 16:12

Seth Parsons. Photo by Creative Services

As K-12 school districts throughout the country reexamine their early reading programs, Seth Parsons, a ��AV education expert, said schools should invest in teacher development and training to reach all students.

“If we want children to learn to read, we need teachers who know how to effectively guide them,” said Parsons, who teaches elementary education and literacy in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development.

In recent years, the question of how best to ensure early reading literacy has become hotly debated in education circles. Literacy experts argue that teachers should be knowledgeable in the science of reading, an evidence-based approach to literacy that incorporates sound, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Some school districts are looking to implement expensive reading curricula based on the science of reading, said Parsons.

Parsons said that schools shouldn’t spend millions on prepackaged early reading curricula but instead use their money to invest in teacher development and hire more reading specialists who can support teacher knowledge and focus on the children who are struggling the most with early reading.

“School districts should make it a priority to help teachers increase their knowledge about the science of reading,” said Parsons. “It’s time we supported the continued growth and education of teachers so that they are equipped with the knowledge they need to be successful and reach as many students as possible.”

The science of reading means, in part, that teachers guide young children in listening to and saying sounds in words, said Parsons.

“We’ve learned about how important it is for students to be able to hear and manipulate the smallest units of sound and learn letter-sound relationships,” said Parsons.

But there’s more to early reading than phonemic awareness and phonics, according to Parsons.

“Phonemic awareness and phonics, which focus on letters and sounds, are undoubtedly important,” said Parsons, a former K–12 teacher. “But students also need to be exposed to texts. They need to be taught that language carries meaning. They need to be given the tools to comprehend what they’re reading, including strategies such as making connections, inferences and predicting.”

Finally, Parsons said, if our society is serious about supporting literacy, we should commit to reducing childhood hunger and providing high-quality preschool and daycare to all families.

“Students who come from impoverished backgrounds come to school already playing catchup,” said Parsons. “We can point to poverty as a reason for the disparity in early literacy.”

Parsons can be reached at sparsons5@gmu.edu

For more information, contact Anna Stolley Persky at apersky@gmu.edu.

About George Mason
��AV is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls 39,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. Learn more at www2.gmu.edu.

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George Mason launches literacy project to support Virginia families

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To ensure effective early reading instruction, invest in teachers, says Mason professor

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