Osceola County School District Embraces Nemours' Early Literacy Program to Improve Reading Readiness Skills inPrekindergarten Children
Orlando, Florida
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 @ 04:17 PM EDT
Prekindergarten teachers to begin new educational program next week
ORLANDO, FL - The School District of Osceola County recently partnered with Nemours BrightStart! to implement their new early literacy program for children in the district’s prekindergarten classes this fall. The Nemours BrightStart! program was created to help identify preschool children at risk for future reading problems and provide educational activities that transform the way they approach reading, before they have a chance to fail. The program began in Jacksonville, FL in 2005 and has since screened thousands of prekindergarten children for early literacy skills. The results have been remarkable, as two-thirds of at-risk children who receive Nemours BrightStart! intervention move into the normal range after scoring well below average during initial pre-intervention screenings.
It is estimated that nearly 40 percent of American children enter kindergarten behind their peers in reading readiness. Students who struggle in the classroom early on may suffer educational, social, emotional and economic consequences. Unfortunately, most reading disorders such as dyslexia, which occurs in 15 to 20 percent of the population, are not identified until third grade or later. To combat these issues, Nemours BrightStart! was created to develop innovative and impactful programs that put children on the road to reading success.
“The Nemours BrightStart! program will be invaluable to Osceola County by giving our preschool students the tools they need to succeed in their academic careers,” says Michael A. Grego, Ed.D., superintendent of the School District of Osceola County. “These children are just starting, and we know that early detection and intervention can help prevent a lifetime of struggle and unnecessary hardship.”
During August, district prekindergarten resource teachers and prekindergarten teachers from eight different classrooms within the School District of Osceola County received their new early literacy kits and specialized training from Nemours BrightStart! instructors on how to implement the program. Four classrooms in private childcare centers are also participating through funding from the Early Learning Coalition of Osceola County.
These teachers finished screening the children for literacy skills in early September. In sessions that lasted only a few minutes, trained screeners met one-on-one with each child and gave simple tasks to measure language skills important for reading, such as letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming, and breaking words into syllables. The screenings are not intended to diagnose or “label” a child; rather, they simply determine if a child is behind in reading readiness and could benefit from Nemours’ unique educational instruction program.
Beginning next week, district resource teachers will implement the Nemours BrightStart! educational instruction sessions for those children identified to be at risk for reading difficulties. Children will meet in small groups for extra instruction in the building blocks of reading: print awareness, vocabulary, letter knowledge, rhyming, phonological awareness, and emergent writing. Each lesson is filled with fun, developmentally appropriate activities that are proven to boost reading readiness in struggling learners. Upon completion of these unique learning activities, children will be re-screened to measure their progress.
The Osceola School District, the Early Learning Coalition of Osceola County and Nemours hope to grow the partnership over time by implementing the program in all prekindergarten classes across the county with the help of additional funding through grants.
modified: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 @ 04:17 PM EDT
created: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 @ 04:17 PM EDT
About Nemours
Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, is dedicated to achieving higher standards in children’s health. Nemours offers an integrated spectrum of clinical treatment coupled with research, advocacy, and educational health and prevention services extending to all families in the communities it serves. Starting with Alfred I. duPont’s bequest over seventy years ago, Nemours has grown into a multi-dimensional organization offering personalized clinical and preventive care focused on children.
Nemours owns and operates the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware and major children’s specialty clinics in Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Jacksonville, Orlando and Pensacola), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr) and New Jersey (Atlantic City and Voorhees). Having recently received preliminary approval from the State of Florida, Nemours will establish a new full-service children’s hospital as part of an integrated pediatric health campus in Orlando. KidsHealth.org, the world’s most visited pediatric health care Web site for parents, kids and teens, is a project of Nemours.
Nemours employs over 4,400 individuals, including 430 pediatric physicians, specialists and surgeons who cared for approximately a quarter of a million children in 2007. The organization’s goal is to align with parents, physicians, community leaders, children’s advocates and elected officials to ensure optimal wellness for every child. Additional information about Nemours can be found at www.nemours.org.
