Seattle/NUA Literacy Initiative
Seattle, Washington
Director: Pat Haith
The Seattle/NUA Literacy Practicum was designed to build on the district’s mission to mediate learning, kindle enthusiasm for learning on all levels, and meet the Essential Academic Learning Requirements. The Literacy Practicum was designed to support and complement the district's mission to translate the standards-based learning system into instructional strategies and opportunities that:
- Enable all eight year olds to meet the reading standard;
- Enable 90% of fourth grades meet the WASL outcome by 2003;
- Provide structures for communication and support of a common literacy focus in each school;
- Assist teachers in achieving the standards;
- Improve learning across the disciplines by accelerating the learning of reading and the ability to compose and communicate understanding.
Results
As reported in "Eliminating the Achievement Gap, A Report to the Community," Seattle Public Schools, Spring 2003:
"Test scores are improving throughout Seattle Public Schools. On the 2002 Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), scores were up 9 percentage points over last year, and up 16 points over 1999."
"Teacher training is paying off. African American children who failed to meet the state's reading standards doubled their pass rate after spending two or more years with teachers who had completed the Literacy Initiative [NUA]. Among students who failed the reading and writing portions of the WASL in 1999, African American students who were taught by literacy-trained teachers made the greatest gains in 2002 - 26% passed the reading portion of the test, compared with 12% without literacy trained teachers. Thirty-one percent passed the writing portion, compared with 22% of pupils without the literacy-trained teachers."
"Literacy Initiative -- Since the training program was launched, 1,300 of the district's 3,000 teachers have enrolled in the two-year, 72-hour training given by the New York-based National Urban Alliance."
Read the complete report at http://www.seattleschools.org/area/eag/rep_comm.pdf
Practicum Outline
An outline of the practicum for the Seattle Literacy Initiative.
Article
No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Program
All contents copyright ©2011 The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education
