The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) recently announced a second round of grant funding for their Indiana Literacy Cadre. This grant is supported by the Lilly Endowment Fund in partnership with the IDOE to enhance literacy instruction.
Hamilton Southeastern Schools (HSE) has been selected to receive grant funding in this round. In keeping with grant requirements, the funding will be used to hire two literacy coaches for the 2023-24 school year. HSE Schools was one of 75 school districts across the state that received the grant. The grant will go towards a portion of salary and benefits for the coaches (two-thirds for year one and one-third for year two). HSE will assume responsibility for the salary and benefits of the coaches in the following years.
The coaches will work exclusively with K-2 teachers at Sand Creek Elementary and Fishers Elementary Schools through the two-year grant period. Additionally, the grant will provide the literacy coaches with regular, robust professional development throughout the two-year program with the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) through the University of Indianapolis. The coaches will also engage in mini- and full-coaching cycles with teachers and provide professional development at each grade level. Specifically, some responsibilities of these coaches include:
- Expand K-2 teacher’s knowledge of the Science of Reading research.
- Facilitate engaging and frequent professional development on the Science of Reading that is grade level and building level focused.
- Participate in on-going, bi-monthly professional development through the IN Literacy Cadre Collaboration Network.
- Ensure that student achievement and growth data is routinely collected, reported and used to drive instructional decisions at the school and classroom levels.
- Provide feedback on curriculum revision as it relates to the Science of Reading.
Hamilton Southeastern Schools will begin its search process to fill the literacy coach positions in the coming weeks.