Transforming Education: Governor Scott Walker and State Superintendent Tony Evers Announce Read to Lead Development Grants

Press Release

Governor Scott Walker and State Superintendent Tony Evers today announced seven recipients of the Read to Lead Development Fund grants. Each of the awards allows the recipient to focus on improving early childhood development and literacy efforts.

"Every child in Wisconsin deserves access to a great education and each of these grants will promote the importance of early childhood learning and encourage students to learn to read," Governor Walker said. "Strong reading skills play a huge role in the future academic success of our youth, so in order to set them up for success, we need to give them the tools they need as early as possible."

"Learning how to read is the foundation for future success," State Superintendent Evers said. "The Read to Lead grants are part of many on-going collaborations to advance reading outcomes for all Wisconsin students. Improving student literacy is a major focus of our public schools and benefits from the community-wide work being done throughout the state."

The following grants were awarded through the Read to Lead Development Fund:

Central City Cyberschool of Milwaukee -- $40,516 for teacher professional development programs, including reading curriculum and instruction, and for students to build at-home libraries.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin -- $45,000 for the Reach Out and Read Program. As part of the program, doctors take time during routine pediatric checkups to educate parents about the importance of reading with infants and children. The funding will be used to provide children's books at 28 partner clinics all over the state including locations in Dane, Milwaukee, Bayfield, Burnett, Chippewa, Dunn, Grant, La Crosse, Marathon, Oneida, Polk, Sauk, Sheboygan, Vernon, and Waukesha counties.
Winnebago County Literacy Council -- $7,500 to help teach English literacy skills to refugee and immigrant parents and their children.

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College -- $18,675 to implement a training course to improve early childhood literacy instruction for childcare providers practicing at YoungStar childcare centers in the area, including the Oneida Nation childcare centers.

Wausau School District Elementary Schools -- $44,761 to provide professional development for reading instructors. The funding will be used to teach the LETRS foundation module where teachers learn science-based reading instruction methods; 44 preK and headstart teachers and 250 K-5 instructors from 15 elementary schools will participate.

CESA 8 -- $44,974 for professional development of reading instructors at five elementary schools in northeastern Wisconsin, served by CESA 8. The five participating elementary schools are Wabeno, Gresham, White Lake, Suring, and Marinette's Park Elementary. The funding will impact approximately 40 educators and 1,000 students to help these schools close their achievement gaps by providing science-based reading instruction to their reading staffs.

Schreiner Memorial Library (Lancaster Public Library) -- $3,500 to educate parents on the importance of reading to their children at WIC visits. Participants will also be signed up for library cards and the library will use this program to help get books in the hands of low-income children and promote early childhood literacy.

Governor Walker launched the Read to Lead initiative in 2011 to focus on the improvement of literacy in Wisconsin. Strong reading skills are needed by the fourth grade, if students are going to be able to read to learn. Reading assessments are now in place and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is currently piloting educator effectiveness evaluations, which will be in place for the 2014-15 school year.

The Read to Lead Development Council was created as part of the Read to Lead legislation, 2011 Act 166. The Council unanimously selected these seven recipients from 214 applications submitted from all around the state.

In addition to the funding for Read to Lead, the 2013-15 state budget included:

$13.6 million for an educator effectiveness system;
$2.8 million for reading assessments; and
$1.5 million to the DPI to develop a professional development portal for all teachers in the state.

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