‘Follow the Bridge to Literacy Success’ Initiative Benefits Teacher Candidates and Struggling Readers
Walsh University’s Division of Education Received a $65,000 Grant from the Ohio Department of Education through a collaboration with the University of Cincinnati in support of the Ohio Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement initiative. Funding will be used to sustain Science of Reading (SoR) applications from past grant funding at the undergraduate and graduate levels, while supporting new partnerships with local school districts.
Walsh faculty will continue delivering evidence-based language and literacy instruction and intervention to ensure shared leadership with school partners, to engage teacher candidates in offering multi-tiered systems of support to K-5 students, ensure K-5 students acquire the knowledge and skills to become proficient readers, build preservice teachers’ literacy skills and knowledge and strengthen educator capacity of K-5 in-service teachers in our community of learners. Teacher candidates will also continue to utilize SoR resources housed in the SoR library on campus as they interact with multiple children learning at various levels.
The second facet of this project is to build, maintain and expand partnerships with local schools districts. Currently, the grant focuses on collaborations between Walsh University and Watson Elementary of Perry Local Schools in Stark County. This partnership will provide Walsh teaching candidates the opportunity to implement SoR practices taken from their courses and apply these activities to struggling readers in the elementary setting.
In addition, teacher candidates will further their knowledge of the Simple View of Reading by completing the All Ohio Learning Modules. This will involve participating in a variety of weekly lessons that are aligned with the Ohio’s literacy initiative and are designed to extend their learning of SoR principles. To further professional learning opportunities based on SoR principles, a one-day professional development will be held at Walsh University followed by follow-up webinars to sustain the concepts throughout the bridge-to-practice program.
Walsh University has been on the forefront of this movement since 2019 when it restructured its existing reading curricula to expand reading science for education students and faculty to meet the needs of P-12 students and prepare our pre-service and in-service teachers for the changing educational environment.
