Two educators honored for developing literacy program
Two associate professors at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extenstion won a national award for creating a program to improve early-childhood literacy in Clark County.
Teresa Byington, an early childhood development specialist, and YaeBin Kim, a parenting education and family literacy specialist, were recognized for their Literacy and Early Childhood Classroom Training Program. The duo won the award at the National Extension Association for Family & Consumer Sciences annual session, held Oct. 16-19 in Omaha, Nebraska. The award recognizes child care professionals who address needs of young children.
“Nevada ranks really low in education outcome and school readiness,” Byington said. “The program could have a huge impact. Literacy is one of the main factors in school achievement.”
The 12-hour program has been taught to 357 early-childhood teachers from Head Start, a federal program that promotes literacy in children 5 or younger, and child care centers from 2013-2016. Those teachers implemented the program to reach 3,000 children in 34 child care sites, she said.
The results of a preschool writing assessment given to 25 classrooms as part of the program showed “significant statistical” improvements in letter, name and sentence writing.
The assessment also showed improvements in alphabet knowledge, reading comprehension and vocabulary after the program’s implementation.
“(It’s) a pretty in-depth focus on vocabulary, emerging writing,” Kim said. “Early-childhood literacy is always an ongoing type of programming.”
Nevada ranks 47th in the nation in reading achievement, with 73 percent of fourth-graders classified as nonproficient readers, according to the Kids Count data book, which reports trends in education.
In 2012, the Nevada Department of Education received a five-year, $12.4 million federal grant to improve literacy, and a portion of the funding was given to CCSD. That was used to subcontract the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, which used the money for Byington and Kim to conduct classroom evaluations and develop the curriculum for teachers.
The program has been adopted by teachers in Michigan, Kansas, Georgia and Iowa.
“Part of it, right now, is to get it to other places, and then we’ll continue to offer (the program),” Byington said. “The principles and activities, we’re hoping they continue and we continue to provide literacy and language training and coaching to early-childhood professionals.”
Contact Diego Mendoza-Moyers at dmendozamoyers@viewnews.com or call 702-383-0496. Follow @dmendozamoyers on Twitter.
