欧美视频

Participants talk during a professional development workshop hosted by the Greater Kansas City Writing Project,
which recently received a grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

 

The (GKCWP) at the 欧美视频 (UCM) plans to expand its literacy education network thanks to a grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

UCM, the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Missouri-St. Louis collectively received a $4.9 million grant over five years. This grant will allow the partners to provide support for teachers to improve literacy outcomes for all students. 

The funds are part of the 2024 Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) program by the U.S. Department of Education, which awarded grants to 23 state and federal district education organizations. Missouri DESE received $5.89 million for year one and could potentially receive up to $49 million to distribute statewide over five years.

During the first round of CLSD funding in 2020, GKCWP received $2.3 million to support the literacy initiative over five years. The organization worked with teachers in grades 4-12 in science, social studies and English language arts. A two-year study of student writing from this program shows significant growth in all four attributes assessed.

Katie Kline, director of the Greater Kansas City Writing Project, said the latest round of funding will allow the organization to provide research-based professional learning and leadership opportunities to a new group of educators. In addition to professional learning, teachers will have access to tuition scholarships for UCM's Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing.

鈥淲e've been working previously with K-12 educators. This new round of funding will focus on secondary teachers, including the new addition of the career tech educators,鈥� Kline said. 鈥淪everal years ago, we developed a program called Literacy that Works, which focused on the unique disciplinary literacy need of career tech educators. We're excited to get to work alongside those teachers again.鈥�

Kline said the grant will also serve as a tool for improving teachers鈥� professional well-being. At a time when teachers are leaving the profession at a high rate, the GKCWP will not only be providing evidence-based literacy practices but also a networked community focused on supporting literacy for teachers.

鈥淥ur professional learning model really gives them the support they need to stay in their classrooms,鈥� Kline said. 

The Greater Kansas City Writing Project, one of nearly 200 university-based sites, was established in 1983 and has been housed at UCM since 2016. It is a professional development and leadership network for teachers from preschool through college. GKCWP provides professional development in schools and operates youth programs like KC Kids Unite and KC Storytellers. Kline said the group鈥檚 fundamental belief is that teachers of all grade levels and content areas are teachers of writing. 

Kline said that hearing 鈥淲riting Project鈥� may lead some to believe that the professional development opportunities are strictly for teachers of English or language arts, but she said that literacy goes beyond subject areas. Participating in the GKCWP is for any teacher, even those who don鈥檛 see themselves as writers or writing teachers.

鈥淲e have a pretty expansive approach to literacy in our global, very connected world,鈥� Kline explained. 鈥淓ducation is often designed to put subjects in silos, and I think writing and reading are literacy practices that are the bridges between those silos. Students need to be able to communicate with each other in their future college, in their future career, in their future communities, and that鈥檚 really what our work is about: helping teachers improve student literacy so that they're successful regardless of the future path they take.鈥�

Through an , DESE will select up to 20 early learning programs and up to 80 schools and career and technology education centers to participate in the latest round of CLSD funding.

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