Project CLEAR Launches Two-Unit Graduate Assessment Course

The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE), in collaboration with Saint Mary’s College of California and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE), is now offering an assessment course with two proposed pathways (one for teachers and the other for administrators) as part of its California Literacy Elevation by Accelerating Reading (Project CLEAR) learning acceleration system.
 
The two-unit graduate assessment course provides an overview of early literacy assessments in phonics, reading, and writing. For those who are considering the Teacher Leader or Teacher pathways, this course would offer an introduction to the opportunities sponsored by Project CLEAR, along with allowing time for district and school leaders to develop, or redesign, a literacy acceleration plan to incorporate into their Local Control and Accountability Plan. 

“This new course will help districts and schools as they prepare to support their biliterate students and participate in Project CLEAR,” said Dr. Michanne Hoctor, a coordinator at SDCOE overseeing Project CLEAR grant work. “The administrators’ deeper understanding of literacy assessments will support their school or district’s ability to identify student needs and develop a literacy acceleration plan within an iterative system.”

The purposes of this course are two-fold. It will enable prospective reading recovery and literacy Lessons teachers and teacher leaders to: 

• Administer, score, and interpret other assessment tasks of early literacy acquisition
• Administer, score, and interpret observations of oral reading of text 
• Develop skill in summarizing results of early literacy assessment tasks
• Construct an assessment kit of materials for observing children's literacy development 
• Acquire observational competency in determining children's strengths related to early literacy acquisition

In addition, the course will enable school and district administrators to develop the skills necessary to support a literacy-focused team in developing an acceleration plan that would identify and address student needs by increasing accessibility to high-quality K-12 literacy acceleration for diverse students in all settings by well trained intervention teachers.

Through Project CLEAR, participants would receive reimbursements up to $680 for course books, assessment kit materials, and student materials/books, as well as a $1,500 stipend for their successful completion.

Please contact Michanne Hoctor or Cynthia Craft for more information or if you are interested in applying to participate in this grant funded program.