ARLINGTON -- The Arlington school district will receive a $7 million state grant to improve the language and literacy skills of disadvantaged children from early childhood through grade 12.
Arlington was among 30 school districts in the state and the largest in North Texas to receive a share of the Texas Literacy Initiative Grant, a federally funded program administered by the Texas Education Agency. The awards for 2011-13 totaled $64.2 million.The grant will fund programs at all schools within the feeder networks of the Sam Houston and Lamar high schools, which have high percentages of at-risk children.The goals include improving oral language and preliteracy skills of preschoolers, such as recognizing letters and their sounds and rhyming words, Deputy Superintendent Marcelo Cavazos said."We expect these 2- or 3-year-olds to be learning letter awareness, print awareness," Cavazos said.In grades three through 12, the objective will be to increase the percentage of students who meet or exceed proficiency on the state English language arts assessments. And the participating schools will use more data and data analysis to improve instruction.As part of the grant, the district will also partner with the Arlington Public Library, the Tarrant County Health Department Nurse Family Partnership, March of Dimes, Early Childhood Intervention, area hospitals and 14 child-care centers to provide services for the youngest children and their parents.Childbirth instructors and social workers, operating through the hospitals, will include information about literacy resources in kits given to parents, district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston said.For older children, the library will host field trips where children will get their first library card and learn how to use the library's resources."Some [program participants] will be giving out brochures to parents, and some will give books for the parents to read to their children," Johnston said.The district offers some similar programs now but only in the Sam Houston feeder system through a United Way grant, Cavazos said. The literacy initiative grant starts next month and runs through August 2013."This provides the children a tremendous opportunity to accelerate their literacy development and be successful in school," he said.Robert Cadwallader,817-390-7641Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
