Afer four years of excellent results at five Goleta Union Schools, United Way of Santa Barbara County’s Power Reading Program is being expanded to all nine schools in the Goleta Union School District. The first phase of the partnership will span a three-year period from August 2016 to August 2019. This district-wide project - with its individualized, research-based literacy tools, techniques, and embedded evaluations - has the potential to significantly improve the futures of thousands of children and their families.
In August 2016, Power Reading implementation will begin with the Lexia Reading software at all 9 GUSD schools. UWSBC will administer a series of trainings for GUSD’s educators, principals, and key staff to help them administer the Lexia Reading software using national best practices and research to help maximize student achievement.
Throughout the first three -year term, UWSBC staff will import all student information into the program, monitor usage patterns, work with GUSD to make continuous program improvements to create an even more impactful program, and support teachers through ongoing trainings, assistance, and research.
Why Goleta?
The nine schools in the Goleta Union District serve a very socio-economically diverse group of students, making it extremely challenging to provide tools and instruction that can be implemented on a district-wide level.
Of the estimated 3,700 children currently enrolled, only half are deemed proficient in English Language arts, more than a third are English Language learners, and approximately 44% are considered socio-economically disadvantaged.
Power Reading Works- and the Results Prove It
Power Reading is one of the key components of United Way of Santa Barbara County’s United for Literacy initiative. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, during both in and out of school time, UWSBC’s Power Reading program is adaptable to each student’s particular needs. The program is fun and easy to use for the student, allows for highliy differentiated instruction for each child, equips teachers with specified metric data to address the needs of each child, and empowers parents to be active participants in their children’s education. Due to its versatility, Power Reading is ideal for GUSD as it can be used across all classrooms and reading levels.
At El Camino Elementary- one of the earliest Power Reading adopters in Goleta, and a school with high numbers of financially and academically at-risk students- the percentage of students who were on-target to meet grade-level benchmarks increased from 15% to 24%, according to Lexia’s embedded assessment. Additionally, in February 2016, El Camino became one of the very few schools in Santa Barbara County ever to exit Program Improvement, a Federal Department of Education classification for schools that do not meet yearly progress goals.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Your sponsorship of the Goleta Literacy Partnership will provide cutting-edge reading improvement tools, teacher training, and support for Pre-K through Sixth Grade students and their families for three full years.
To support the Goleta Literacy Partnership, contact Steve Ortiz, UWSBC Executive Vice President at 805-965-8591 x111 or sortiz@unitedwaysb.org. Or visit unitedwaysb.org/donate