PARIS – SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman is sold on the Literacy Collaborative concept.

The trademark course taught at Ohio State University in Columbus supports and encourages children who are beginning to read and write.

“Our goal is clearly to establish a Literacy Collaborative in every elementary school,” Eastman said.

He said the Literacy Collaborative idea was brought to SAD 17 by Rebecca Cummings, coordinator of the Title 1 program and who oversees the Literary Collaborative coordinators.

“She had seen the power of Literacy Collaborative while she was doing research and post graduate work,” he said.

Cummings said Agnes Gray Elementary School in West Paris and the Guy E. Rowe School in Norway have been practicing the Literacy Collaborative method for several years.

There is one coordinator at each school and three teachers at the Gray School and eight teachers at the Rowe School who have been trained by a coordinator.

Harrison Elementary School’s Mary Reed finished her coordinator certification course prior to schools start this year.

Oxford Elementary has a teacher who is starting coordinator training this year.

Cummings said there is a “cast of many” auxiliary teachers, special education teachers and Title 1 teachers and the principals at the Rowe and Gray schools who have been trained by coordinators.

She said the goal of having all elementary schools under the Literary Collaborative system will not be reached all at once. She said it is expensive.

“We fund some of the Literary Collaborative locally and some of it with federal Title 1 funds that are earmarked for helping disadvantaged children,” Cummings said. “Our goal is to get every kid on track in reading and writing so by the end of grade three they are reading at grade level and writing appropriately.”

Cummings said this method forces teachers to rethink how they teach. She said the system is always evaluating what the child knows and then proceeds with learning at an appropriate pace for the child.

“We’re building on what the kids know,” Cummings said. “What we’re not doing is giving every kid the same darn worksheet to do.”

jsmedley@sunjournal.com

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