Grants Received
Literacy Grants
Florida Reading Initiative. P.K. Yonge faculty serve as members of the Lead Team and consultants to a state-funded partnership project between the Northeast Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC) and P.K. Yonge. To date, the schoolwide reform project designed to assist schools in achieving 100% literacy has been funded for $7,500,000 (July 2001-June 2005). As a member of the Lead Team, P.K. Yonge’s Director, Dr. Fran Vandiver, consults with over 70 elementary and secondary principals in essential research-based strategies for effective school leadership. Dr. Lynda Hayes and Ms. Nancy Dean consult monthly with over 200 Reaching Coaches from participating reading initiative schools in the NEFEC districts.
Eastern Regional Reading First Technical Assistance Center. Dr. Lynda Hayes, P.K. Yonge’s elementary curriculum coordinator and reading coach, serves as a consultant to the National Reading First Technical Assistance Center. The center is funded by the Federal Department of Education and is housed at the Florida Center for Reading Research in Tallahassee. ERRFTAC is funded for $1,600,000 per year for up to 5 years (October, 2003-June, 2009). Dr. Hayes has shared P.K. Yonge’s efforts to achieve 100% literacy and experiences with research based reading strategies with Reading First district coordinators, principals, reading coaches, and teachers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, and New Hampshire.
Improving Literacy through School Libraries: Project Book TaLC—Teachers and Librarians Collaborating. Dr. Lynda Hayes served as a grant writing consultant to Northeast Florida Educational Consortium to develop a proposal for the U.S. Department of Education Federal Literacy & School Libraries Grant. The project was funded for $233,368 from October 2002 to September 2003. P.K. Yonge librarians worked with librarians from eight small and rural NEFEC schools to purchase new books for their libraries, share research-based strategies for actively collaborating with the school faculty in designing reading programs, and create a Professional Development Network. P.K. Yonge received $23,000 from this grant to purchase new materials for the elementary library.
P.K. Yonge Reading Coach Model Grant. During the 2002-2003 school year, P.K. Yonge was awarded $65,795 to support elementary, middle, and high school reading coaches at P.K. Yonge and ongoing professional development for classroom teachers. The grant was funded by the Florida Department of Education, and Dr. Lynda Hayes served as the Principal Investigator. In addition, Dr. Hayes provided collaborative support and assistance to the NEFEC member districts as they developed their Reading Coach Model Grant proposals. An additional $1,052,000 in grants was awarded to the NEFEC districts to support reading coaches and professional development during the same funding period.
M.S.S. SAIL: Summer Adventures in Literacy—Research to Improve Reading Comprehension Results for Middle School Students. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, this research project was a directed research priority designed to validate the effectiveness of a summer intervention program collaboratively designed by P.K. Yonge and UF COE faculty. The proposal was funded for $539,999 from August 2000 to April 2004. Drs. Lynda Hayes and Nancy Corbett (UF Department of Special Education) implemented different versions of the SAIL program in 10 different middle schools in 7 schools districts throughout rural, north Florida over three years. Findings from the combined results of six research studies conducted during the three year project suggest that for middle school students reading below grade level an intensive, inclusive summer reading program may result in greater gains in reading comprehension and reading fluency than reading tutorial programs embedded during the school year or traditional content-oriented (i.e., science, math) summer school programs.
Reading Best Practices Center. P.K. Yonge faculty served as Lead Team members and project consultants in the development of the Florida Reading Initiative, the major project resulting from this collaborative partnership. The Reading Best Practices Center was funded by the Florida Legislature for $500,000 from July 2000 to June 2001.
Research-based reading program: Action research to improve reading instruction. Proposed and directed by Dr. Lynda Hayes, the purpose of this project was to provide professional development and time for classroom teachers to develop, implement, complete, and report an action research project focused on improving students’ literacy. This project was funded by the Florida Department of Education for $51,981 from July 2001 to June 2002. Fifteen of P.K. Yonge’s teaching faculty participated in the project. Dr. Diane Silva from the School of Teaching and Learning (UF COE) consulted with classroom teachers as they developed, implemented, and analyzed their projects.
P.K. Yonge Literacy Project: Improving the reading achievement of students below grade level. Funded by the Florida Department of Education for $50,000, from July 1999 to June 2001, the purpose of this project was to provide intensive, hands-on professional development for the P.K. Yonge elementary faculty. Elementary teachers consulted with COE faculty (Drs. Linda Lamme, Danling Fu, and Zhihui Fang) to review current research-based literacy practices, design lessons, and provide research-based reading tutorials for struggling 3 rd grade readers during P.K. Yonge’s summer intervention program.
Technology Grants
P.K Yonge was a recent recipient of an Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Grant Program sponsored by the Florida Department of Education. Of the 117 proposals submitted for review, P.K. Yonge was one of 50 proposals awarded across the state and will receive approximately $300,000 to increase technology integration.
The EETT Grant Program, authorized under the federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation, attempts to address educational technology needs for schools within Florida. Approximately $13.9 million dollars was available for funding through a competitive selection process. The central purpose of the grant program is to improve student achievement through effective integration of technology into the learning process.
During the 2002-2003 school year, P.K. Yonge implemented a Senior Gateway Project. Each senior chose a topic to research, wrote a 10-15 page paper, and prepared and gave a 20 minute presentation to a panel of their peers and outside evaluators. During the current school year, each grade level from 6 to 12 has a Gateway Project where students will create and present a project that demonstrates a deeper understanding of a grade-level topic.
The EETT Grant Program will allow P.K. Yonge to fully develop, implement, and refine the Gateway Projects. During the summer of 2004, P.K. Yonge hosted a five-day Technology Integration Institute (TI 2) for P.K. secondary and Dixie County High School faculty, as well as district private high school faculty who wish to attend. The focus of the Institute will be to teach teachers how to apply technology in educational settings. Teachers will also learn how to integrate technology into reading, writing and research projects and how to develop and refine Gateway Projects.