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News from Oak Ridge Public Schools Education FoundationFor Immediate Release
Contact: Kay Brookshire, 483-4644, or Lila Metcalf, 241-3667
Foundation Grants Help Teachers Enrich Education
Susan Galler, Inclusion Specialist at Oak Ridge Preschool, wants to strengthen involvement by parents in the both the school and their children's education with new educational materials and a School-Home Connection program.
Gwen Harrell, GAP tutor at Glenwood School, sees achievement and test scores rising among second through fourth graders taking part in the Glenwood Acceleration Program's before and after-school tutoring.
At Oak Ridge High School, advanced placement science teacher Peggy Bertrand welcomes the wealth of possibilities for student exploration in a "virtual laboratory" that new simulation and modeling software brings to the computer lab.
The three programs share a common denominator -- each is being funded with grants from the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2000 that provides funds beyond public tax dollars to ensure the highest quality of education for Oak Ridge Public School students.
The School-Home Connection, GAP, and the virtual lab are among 12 programs funded with $25,000 from the Education Foundation this year, representing the largest dollar amount and largest number of grants the foundation has funded since its beginning.
"Teachers come to us with ideas to supplement the basics," said Ann McNees, former Oak Ridge School Board chair who now chairs the Education Foundation Grants Committee, comprised of members from the community, school board, retired staff, and administration. The process required teachers to fill out grant applications and have them approved by their principal and the superintendent, to ensure that the programs they proposed fit the curriculum.
"The ideas they brought show what outstanding teachers and staff we have. They aren't happy with the minimum. They really want to do more for their students. The things they ask for really enrich the program," she said. "One of the biggest disappointments was that we did have to prioritize and couldn't fund them all."
McNees commended the community for supporting the Education Foundation, not only for the high school rebuilding program, but also to enhance educational programs in local schools. "This is a result of the efforts of many individuals, because they think education is important," she said.
Some of the grants resulted from cooperative efforts between teachers at different schools. Robertsville and Jefferson Middle Schools will share a grant for a visit by author Sharon Draper, who will divide her day between the schools. The two middle schools also received a joint grant for supplies for Technology Student Association projects and competitions.
Other grants were awarded to: Woodland School, for Orff instruments for a General Music Orff Project, and a separate grant for beginning an inquiry-based science curriculum; School Health Services, for faster-reading thermometers and probe covers; and Glenwood Library, for a summer seminar in "Valuing Diversity: Lives of Young People around the World" and for books.
ORHS received three other grants, for the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America Club national convention project expenses; for purchase of a microscope and prepared slides of body tissues for teaching anatomy and physiology; and to help Masquers organize prop and costume storage at the high school.
Students in physics and environmental science classes, both AP and regular classes, will begin using the software enabling virtual laboratory simulations at the high school in the fall, according to Bertrand. The $2,500 grant purchased software packages that allow the experimentation. Bertrand and another teacher learned about the possibilities this software provides through a workshop at Roane State Community College, where they saw modules in science, economics, and psychology demonstrated. "The virtual lab allows students to do things that might be dangerous, that would take too long, or that they can't really see," Bertrand said. For example, students may create models of systems, and one model might be an object falling through the air and beginning to develop drag force. "The drag force of an object depends upon its shape. So the student can experiment with the shape of an object and see how rapidly it comes to terminal velocity," she said.
Galler views the School-Home Connection program as filling in the missing links at the Preschool. She saw a need for investing in books and materials that families can check out and take home, and to have a curriculum that teaches parents how to teach their children.
The grant, partially funded at $4,000, allows the beginning of a small-scale program to meet those needs. Parents will have access to a laptop computer and educational software at the school and books and materials to take home, as well as the opportunity to attend workshops on educating their children and to have additional in-home visits from Preschool staff.
For example, one child with autism, unable to use words to communicate, needed a visual schedule, which allows the child to select a picture to communicate needs and to see a picture schedule for the day. The parent wanted to use the visual schedule at home, and through the Preschool program, came to school to learn how to do it. In another example, Galler helped a parent set up a program at home to improve the child's behavior, using behavioral materials from school.
"We want every family to be able to continue their child's education and to know how to do it, whether the child has developmental delays or is a typically developing child," Galler said. "This is for every family to be able to help their child learn." The $3,500 grant to the GAP program at Glenwood provides partial funding for transportation and materials, allowing the program to expand from previous years. Four teachers now provide small group instructional support and encouragement for students who struggle in the classroom and in completing homework, according to Harrell. Last school year, 31 students participated in the program, referred by teachers for extra help.
Students who participate show significant gains in TCAP reading and math scores. While they may not be appreciative of the program when they first arrive, students begin to realize that the tutoring and homework program is helping them in the classroom, Harrell said. This year, in a year-end survey, all students said they wanted to continue with GAP next year.