GILROY
– Antonio Del Buono Elementary School has $18,000 to spend on a
reading program next year that will bring parent volunteers into
the classroom to read to below-level students.
GILROY – Antonio Del Buono Elementary School has $18,000 to spend on a reading program next year that will bring parent volunteers into the classroom to read to below-level students.
The Early Literacy Grant from Community Foundation Silicon Valley will be used to support the “America Reads” program at the school to boost students’ reading skills. Del Buono’s early literacy efforts are already beginning to pay off: The school increased its state Academic Performance Index score by 90 points from 2001-03, more than any other school in the district. It now has the district’s third-highest score.
The America Reads program, which is used around the country and even in the United Kingdom, awards students for reading a certain amount of pages each year. It is a largely recreational program supported by teachers, that encourages students to read in their own time after school or during the summer. Parents get involved and can earn awards, too.
Through the program, volunteers will visit Del Buono classrooms one to three times a week to read to students in kindergarten through third grade who read below their grade level.
A part-time parent-volunteer liaison to recruit in-class readers will be covered by the grant, McGurk said.
“The grant will also allow teachers to have some time to work together on the students’ instructional progress, … plan outcomes,” said Michelle McGurk, foundation spokeswoman.
Del Buono was the only south county applicant for the grant this year. The foundation distributed $191,000 this year to 10 schools in Gilroy, Milpitas and San Jose serving children with the greatest need, McGurk said. Nearly half that amount came from private donors.
The foundation shared school’s grant proposals with its donors “and this is one of the schools where we had a donor who felt that this was a very compelling proposal and a school serving children that they wanted to support and provide opportunities for,” McGurk said.
Thirty-five percent of students at the school in North Gilroy, which opened in 2000, are English Language Learners. Also, 62 percent of students are low-income.
McGurk noted that Del Buono has two full-time literacy coaches to assist teachers with their early literacy efforts, as well as very active parents.
Lori Stuenkel covers education for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 847-7158 or ls*******@************ch.com.
