UF’s College of Education is seeking funding to help elementary students learn to read.
The college is requesting $1.5 billion from the state to pilot an intensive reading program, called the Winning Reading Boost. The College of Education’s Lastinger Center for Learning helped start the program at one school in St. Petersburg, Florida, last Fall.
“The Lastinger Center was contacted by some prominent community leaders in St. Petersburg, and they asked us to see if we can help or assist in some of the lowest-performing schools in the state of Florida,” said Shaunté Duggins, an early literacy and teaching development consultant for the Lastinger Center.
The initiative began with a few instructors teaching a group of 20 children from Campbell Park Elementary at a church center in St. Petersburg, she said.
“The program at the church was great, but it just wasn’t ideal to optimize the students’ learning,” Duggins said.
Because of that, they want to bring the program to the classroom, she said. The pilot uses songs and games to reinforce repetition and make learning fun. The curriculum utilizes both technology and books.
Dianne Fix, one of four instructors of the pilot program, said both the students and their parents are excited about students learning through the pilot.
“We had a dad that said his student said that ‘You’re not going to read to me anymore; I get to read to you,’” she said.
