Local students make LEAP into learning
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Gov. Phil Bredesen, state Sen. Jerry Cooper and state Rep. Charles Curtiss recently announced two grants totaling $205,000 for Warren County which were obtained through a partnership with Tennessee Opportunity Programs, a private non-profit cooperation chartered by the state in 1973 with the goal of providing services and educational opportunities to migrant and seasonal farm workers and other disadvantaged Tennesseans.
Here in Warren County the funds have been used to set up after-school programs at five elementary schools geared toward the socio-economic groups served by TOPS, according to Dianna Zadeh, the school system?s director of ESOL, Testing and Equity Programs.
Bobby Ray and Warren County Middle School began their LEAP-funded programs last year, while West Elementary, Hickory Creek and Dibrell initiated their programs earlier this month. Zadeh said the funds came through a mutually beneficial partnership with Jessica Castaneda of TOPS, who handled much of the grant writing process, which had some pretty stringent requirements.
?You have to write a competitive grant,? Zadeh said. ?They have very strict guidelines. You have to have 15 hours of after-school programming per week. You have to be in session every day that school is in a full day session. You have to cover math, reading language arts, science, computer training/access, and exposure to enrichment or extracurricular activities.?
As its part of the partnership, the county provided the information and statistics needed for the grants and agreed to do the staffing and curriculum for the programs, along with providing the facilities.
There was no in-kind matching of funds, according to Zadeh, so there was basically no cost to the county. The first programs were geared toward Hispanics, English language learners (ELL), and migrant students, but the programs have since been expanded to include students from economically disadvantaged families.
?The reason we did it that way, is because the Hispanic sub-group was a group that our system had shown a need in boosting their reading score,? Zadeh said.
According to Zadeh, the programs will do much to improve test scores in these sub-groups, which will help the school system maintain its No Child Left Behind requirements and average yearly progress scores.
The students involved in the programs receive help with their homework and participate in educational exercises designed to improve language and reading, but are exposed to a variety of other types of activities as well.
Bobby Ray students have been working in the computer lab with the new reading coach program, and participated in Christmas projects for soldiers. At Dibrell, students have been learning about animal diversity in polar regions, particularly information about penguins. Students even carried around plastic balls, representing eggs, to illustrate animal survival.
Zadeh feels the LEAP grants provide a vital source of additional educational funding at literally no monetary cost to the county, and offers great rewards by improving test scores of an important segment of the population.
?It?s a great program,? Zadeh said. ?It offers a lot of benefits at very little cost. It?s good for everyone concerned, and we?re glad Gov. Bredesen and legislators like Sen. Cooper and Rep. Curtiss are supporting it.?