One book at a time
Westlawn Elementary educators will use $5.2M grant to promote literacy for students, community
“This is math. This is in science. This is in social studies. Because trust me, reading is fundamental.” — Taryn Wells, Westlawn principal
A Texas-side elementary has been awarded a $5.2 million grant to promote literacy for students, staff, parents and the community at large.
During an announcement Friday at Westlawn Elementary School, Texarkana Independent School District Superintendent Paul Norton told the students of the opportunity the grant provides.
“It’s outstanding. It’s important because it’s based on your hard work and what you’ve accomplished this year, and even better yet what you’re going to do next year and for many years to come,” he said. “This isn’t something that just impacts you, it impacts all your little brothers and sisters and cousins that will be here for years to come and the positive that you have created by being here at Westlawn Elementary School.”
Westlawn is one of 18 schools in Texas to receive the funds for the four-year grant, which come from Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Grants are distributed by the Texas Education Agency to campuses demonstrating the greatest need and strongest commitment to use the monies. Ninety schools applied.
Christy Tidwell, TISD’s coordinator of professional development and continuous
improvement, said the school applied for the grant twice before receiving it for this, the fifth cycle. The grant was awarded in late December and began Feb. 15. The fiscal year runs through July 31, with year two beginning Aug. 1.
“It centers around a whole school improvement,” she said. “Every teacher on this campus will receive very in-depth training on literacy and they will all be literacy specialists at the end of the grant.”
The grant will provide books not only in the library, but also in the classrooms—enough of the same book for teachers to have one for each child and use them in small group settings. Book-filled backpacks will also be sent home with the students each summer for students to use with family members to increase literacy when they’re not in class.
Field trips, summer camps and after-school activities will also be added, along with technology, reading and work-training classes for parents.
The materials will be centered around Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families,” a step-bystep self-empowering process designed to help students and families succeed in their endeavors.
Westlawn Principal Taryn Wells told the students that they would all receive orange T-shirts on Tuesday with the TTIPS logo, the same logo teachers wear to reinforce their collective effort to increase literacy.
“This resource is going to push you reading, working on your vocabulary, your fluency, your comprehension skills and this is not just in your reading classes,” she told the students. “This is math. This is in science. This is in social studies. Because trust me, reading is fundamental.”