Mississippi Bend AEA Receives Federal Grant to Improve Early Reading Programs

November 1, 2003

Bettendorf, Iowa — Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency (AEA) has received a $1,873,490 federal grant to implement a research-based preschool literacy program created by Colorado-based Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL).

Through the Early Reading First grant from the U.S. Department of Education, five preschool centers in the Mississippi Bend AEA region will implement McREL’s Scaffolding Early Literacy program and use the Early Literacy Advisor™ diagnostic assessment system to enhance young children’s language, cognitive and early reading skills.

McREL will provide professional development to early childhood staff in Scaffolding Early Literacy, a program designed to increase children’s learning in oral language, including vocabulary and comprehension, phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge. McREL’s instructional approach also addresses general school readiness skills, such as self-regulation.

Mississippi Bend AEA also will use McREL’s Early Literacy Advisor™, a computerized diagnostic system that assists classroom teachers in assessing and guiding literacy development in children ages 4-6. The Advisor assesses each student’s literacy development, and then provides teachers with research-based instructional strategies that are most likely to help improve that student’s learning.

“The Early Literacy Advisor™ is truly a one-of-a-kind assessment system,” said Tim Waters, McREL’s CEO. “We are excited about the opportunity to help educators in Eastern Iowa improve student learning at an age when it matters most — early childhood.”

The competitive grant is one of only 30 awarded this year through the Early Reading First program, an initiative designed to encourage preschool programs to use research-based programs that enhance young children's language and cognitive development. More information about the grant program is available at www.ed.gov/programs/earlyreading/index.html.

More information about the Early Literacy Advisor™ is available online at www.mcrel.org/programs/literacy/ela/index.asp.

Local contact
Dr. Jan Yoder, Mississippi Bend AEA, Project Director, (563) 344-6315.

McREL is a nationally recognized, private, nonprofit organization located in Aurora, Colo., dedicated to improving education for all students through applied research, product development and service. Its staff of highly respected educators and researchers focuses on providing educators and policymakers with the highest quality, field-tested, research-based products and services available in PreK–16 education.