Anonymous Donor Awards $115,000 Grant for
New Literacy Program in Westbury Schools
Financial Backing Supports C.W. Post-Yale University
School Reform Projects in "Urbanized Suburb"
August 30, 1999 -- A major financial boost - a grant for $115,000 -
has come to the path-breaking school reform collaboration between the education
school at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Yale University,
and the Westbury School District.
The grant comes from a foundation that wishes to remain anonymous, officials
said. It is for the literacy component of a multi-year program to improve
Westbury's educational system district-wide. Capping the project's first
full year, the funding will help the district to address New York State's
new, stricter English Language Arts curriculum and provide intense programs
to boost literacy development. Westbury is one of the nation's "urbanized
suburbs" that has to cope with an influx of traditionally urban ethnic
groups and poverty-related challenges. Students in the Westbury School
District come from diverse backgrounds and face several challenges in their
literacy and language development. In fact, more than a third of the district's
youngest children are new to English," said Dr. Jeffrey Kane, dean
of the School of Education at the C.W. Post Campus in neighboring Brookville.
Dr. Kane is the person who first envisioned the current partnership.
Dr. Kane added: "This generous grant will allow us to assist the
Westbury community in helping its students develop the whole range of literacy
abilities -- reading, writing, speaking and listening -- that they'll need
to succeed in school and the larger world."
Community Partnerships: The literacy project, which begins in
September, is part of a comprehensive partnership between the Westbury
School District, C.W. Post, and Yale University's School Development Program.
The Yale program uses the "Comer Process" pioneered by Yale psychiatrist
James P. Comer, arguably the leading school reformer in the country. It
focuses on nurturing children by "rallying the whole village"
and involving teachers, administrators, families and community leaders
in the educational process. The goal is to foster not only academic advancement
but also children's psychological, social and physical well-being and ethical
development. "One of the most powerful aspects of this program is
that it narrows the gap between home and school and makes parents partners
with teachers, rather than -- as often is the case -- antagonists,"
said Dr. Francis Roberts, who directs the overall partnership and who is
former president of the Bank Street College of Education, a former school
superintendent on Long Island, and now professor of education at C.W. Post.
A Jump Start on Literacy: The new literacy project will focus
on improving reading and general literacy in Drexel Avenue and Powell's
Lane, two elementary schools in the Westbury district. "We've already
gotten a jump-start on the literacy element of the project," said
Dr. Kane. For eight months of the last school year, Dr. Rochelle Frei,
a C.W. Post reading and writing specialist, provided 75 Drexel third and
fourth graders with specialized instruction in writing poetry and biographies
while reinforcing interviewing strategies and reading techniques. Dr. Frei
also taught weekly writing workshops to 10 Drexel School teachers. Leadership
for C.W. Post's part of the literacy project will come from Dr. Joseph
Sanacore, a professor of literacy in the C.W. Post Department of Special
Education and Reading. He has spent more than 30 years as a literacy expert
in the Hauppauge School District and has published over 100 journal articles
on literacy development. "He brings a wealth of experience and a theoretical
insight to the project," said Dr. Kane.
Involvement of Teachers: Beginning this September, some 18 Westbury
reading and classroom teachers in charge of about 726 children in 22 classrooms
will participate in a year-long program of collaboration, curriculum revisions
and specialized training.
As part of the overall project, three or more C.W. Post School of Education
faculty members will spend an average of 60 hours per week in the two schools
to help teachers improve their own practice. The project also involves
future teachers from the C.W. Post School of Education, who will assist
the regular classroom teachers while gaining supervised field experience
in the Comer Process. This year, C.W. Post is revising seven of its undergraduate
and graduate education courses to include more Comer-related child development
principles.
Backing from New, Comer-trained Superintendent: Another boost
for the process is expected to come from the appointment of Dr. Constance
Clark as Superintendent of the Westbury School District. Dr. Clark was
in charge of implementing the Comer Process in the District of Columbia
Schools and has received accolades from Dr. Comer, who publicly stated
that he can think of "no better person" to lead the implementation
of the School Development Program in Westbury.
Dr. Clark said: "The Comer School Development Program is a wonderful
opportunity for all stakeholders of the Westbury community to join in a
collaborative effort to improve the quality of education and create an
atmosphere that is academically challenging to our young people."
In addition to the new funding from the anonymous foundation, the program
received a $141,000 planning grant from the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation
in 1998.
For more information contact Dr. Francis Roberts at (516) 299-4115 or
froberts@liu.edu.
FACT SHEET
Early Results of the Collaboration Between the C.W. Post Campus of
Long Island University, Yale University and the Westbury School District
- The literacy project that won a grant in the spring of 1999 from an
anonymous foundation is part of a large, multi-year partnership between
the Westbury public schools, the School of Education at C.W. Post, and
Yale University's School Development Program. The SDP uses what is widely
known as the Comer Process, based on the nationally praised work of the
psychiatrist James P. Comer. It has had significant success in more than
700 schools across the nation.
- The C.W. Post-Yale-Westbury collaboration, established in 1998, marks
the first time the Comer Process has been applied to an entire school district
with a local university partner. The partners have now spent close to two
years on launching a multi-year project to involve not only educators but
also parents and community groups in creating the kind of round-the-clock
culture that encourages student to achieve.
- During the past 12 months, the project has concentrated on building
a broad base of support and on careful planning so its reforms will "stick."
- More than 50 teachers, administrators, parents, and school board members
have participated in Comer training workshops, with 20 going on to advanced
training.
- The entire school board has participated in two days of training.
- Excitement has spread to the point where 50 Westbury faculty and staff
from the middle school voluntarily devoted a Friday night and Saturday,
without pay, to organize and participate in their own Comer institute.
- Workshops in reading were given to 10 teachers in the Drexel Avenue
School by a professor from C.W. Post's department of reading, who also
gave individual reading instruction to over 75 third and fourth graders.
- Over 60 children received special help thanks to speech, hearing and
language screening tests given to 300 children by C.W. Post faculty and
education students.
- C.W. Post faculty and administrators assisted Westbury in preparing
grant applications which produced a $200,000 grant from New York State
1998 Goals 2000 program.
- The district began conversations with the C.W. Post Department of Educational
Technology on linking up with The Educational Electronic Village, which
connects schools, experts, and community members across Long Island both
electronically via computers and in person.
- At least 50 copies are circulating in Westbury of the book, "Rallying
the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education."
- The C.W. Post School of Education revised six undergraduate and graduate
courses in reading, special education, and curriculum and instruction to
build in more Comer materials.
For more information contact Dr. Francis Roberts at (516) 299-4115 or
froberts@liu.edu
For more information call the C.W. Post Public
Relations Office at (516) 299-2333 or e-mail pr@cwpost.liu.edu
or send mail to: Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, 720 Northern
Blvd., Brookville, New York 11548-1300.
