June 22, 2009

21st Century Prep wins $206,000 best practices grant

The 21st Century Preparatory School has been selected by the U.S. Department of Education and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as one of 16 Reading Best Practices Model Sites for the 2009-2010 school year.

The recognition comes with a $206,000 grant.

21st Century Preparatory School, located at 1220 Mound Ave., was the first Wisconsin recipient of the federal Reading First grant five years ago. With on-going support from the program, 21st Century student reading scores have risen substantially. One of the major criteria required to become a Reading Best Practices Model Site was to demonstrate outstanding reading achievement in kindergarten through third grade. This year, the third grade students at 21st Century Preparatory School scored above the state average on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination which is given to all Wisconsin third grade students.

The purpose of the grant program is to introduce reading instruction best practices to other schools, by offering high-quality, low-cost professional development and classroom observation opportunities in successful Reading First classrooms.

Eight public schools from southern Wisconsin will be able to partner with 21st Century Preparatory School to receive on-site classroom visits, professional development provided by DPI, and professional development materials for classroom teachers.

Carol Barkow, 21st Century Board President, said, ”We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with other schools in our area. Our teachers have done an exceptional job working with our students and will look forward to working with other teachers as we all strive to enhance our students reading skills.”

21st Century Preparatory School serves 490 Pre-K though 8th grade students in Racine and is a public school chartered by the University of Wisconsin – Parkside.

14 comments:

  1. I wonder what the Johnson Family did to get this for "their school"?

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  2. Congratulations are in order for any success in education in Racine. Now thats a dress code when 3rd graders were ties to school!

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  3. Anon 7:19 - Sure take a nice story and try to put a bad spin on it. Congratulations to 21st Century Prep -

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  4. RUSD take note ! You don't have to send anyone out of town. The people in the know are in your own backyard !!!

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  5. A Racine Unified School did receive the best practices
    grant-JANES SCHOOL located at 1425 North Wisconsin Street. Congratulations to the entire staff who worked as a team to get the grant. Great things will continue to happen at Janes, for the students and parents.

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  6. Thats GREAT for Janes !! What about the rest of RUSD ??

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  7. Will any RUSD elementary schools be taking advantage of this opportunity?

    Read First grants have been awarded to RUSD schools. This was the last school year for both Fratt & Janes.

    Congratulations to the students and staff at 21st Century!

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  8. Anyone else find it ironic this article was posted by a 21st Century board member? Might be why you aren't hearing about Janes receiving the grant.

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  9. Anon 9:02: Let's not search for hidden motives. As soon as we were told about the Janes School grant -- by the same poster who wrote about it here later as Anon 1:40 -- we contacted Racine Unified seeking more information.

    RUSD told us: "I can confirm that Janes did receive a grant, however we are still awaiting the details from DPI including their press release. We were told more info would be available after July 1."

    I shared that with Anon 1:40, but it's not enough for a story. When we get more, we'll post it.

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  10. Janes Elementary School was also selected by the U.S. Department of Education and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as one of 16 Reading Best Practices Model Sites for the 2009-2010 school year. Janes has been involved in the Read First program for six years. The school was informed on June 15. Janes also has some history that should also not go unrecognized.
    It was the first Year Round School in the State of Wisconsin with their New Year starting on July 8th. Students from all over the district can have the opportunity to attend this school if so desired and if openings are available. It is one of the bilingual sites for the district. It was also the first school to offer after school programming to its students for homework and enrichment classes. As far as what did the Johnson's do to get this for the 21st Century School
    I would say nothing but perhaps help them with the writing of the grant as Janes Staff had to do.

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  11. Strange that the RUSD pr person or persons did not already have a press release on the great news for Janes Elementary School.

    Will check back and read more about it:)

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  12. We are attempting to interest the Journal Times to do an article about this. Hopefully they will consider this newsworthy.

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  13. ...just checking back...

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  14. I guess that the pr person for RUSD can't write a press release-
    what does that tell you ??

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