ESU Teachers College aids rural school district in reading improvement

Due to a collaborative effort between ESU's Teachers College and Altoona - Midway School district , children are experiencing reading in a different way.

As part of the No Child Left Behind grant, ESU professors have been working with students and teachers at Altoona - Midway School district in southeast Kansas to develop a reading program and improve reading across all content areas.

Since this partnership with began, Altoona - Midway has raised its reading scores significantly and has been taken off of the state's school improvement list.

"This is the first-time in six years that the district has not been on the school improvement list. It is a great accomplishment," said Danny Fulton, superintendent. "This could not have been done without the exceptional training and help of the professors in the Teachers College at ESU."

Through this grant, in its third year, ESU has developed materials to train instructors who will, in turn, provide scientifically-based reading instruction to schools in Kansas . The materials are designed to help schools achieve 100 percent of their children reading at or above grade level by the end of the third grade.

"We have been pleased with the partnership with ESU. They have brought some consistency to our reading program," Fulton said. "They have created a model for our middle and high school and our teachers are using the same reading strategies across curriculum. It has been very helpful for us."

Improving teacher quality is one of the cornerstones of the nation's No Child Left Behind Act. The six-year federal grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Education through the Kansas Department of Education.

"It is a unique situation where a small rural school district in Kansas to be working and presenting collaboratively with a university," said Dr. Gary Rice, Associate Professor of Elementary Education. "Through our combined efforts we have made a difference to a child and helped a child with reading."

Last Updated July 2, 2007>