This academy is an enhancement of regular kindergarten. Its emphasis is to raise the reading levels of future generations while developing an academic foundation for future success. A key component of the academy is the requirement of parents/guardians to attend monthly professional development sessions to help them understand the important value of developing early literacy concepts.

 

Resource materials are provided to parents during the sessions to help them learn what to expect from their child in terms of literacy development and how to measure their development.

 

The Foundation provides materials free of charge to the parents including age appropriate books, audiotapes and games to be used in the home. Other resources are provided to assist children in developing phonological awareness and vocabulary. These include rhyming games, audiotapes with songs and word games for vocabulary skills.

 

Parents are given pre and post session surveys to determine knowledge gained on a particular topic as well as provide additional feedback on the types of activities that are most effective.

 

College interns from Messiah College participate in the Academy, which provides the opportunity for smaller groups in targeted interventions with the classroom teacher.

 

Pre and post program testing of students is used to track their knowledge of literacy benchmarks as well as improve their Dynamic Indicator for Basic Early Literacy Scoring (DIBELS) .

 

This is one of the programs funded through EITC.