 In August 2008, Eastern's Center for Early Childhood Education was awarded a three-year, $3.9 million Early Reading First grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Under the Community Partners for Early Literacy (CPEL) project, the Center is partnering with the Windham Public Schools' Early Childhood Center and with Eastern's Child and Family Development Resource Center to improve the language and literacy skills of approximately 240 preschool-aged children in Willimantic, Connecticut.
CPEL provides ongoing, for-credit professional development to 41 teachers, assistant teachers, and paraprofessionals on providing instruction on phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, early writing, and other topics related to language development and early literacy. Each teacher and paraprofessional also receives a minimum of 2.5 hours of weekly, in-classroom coaching from a highly qualified literacy coach.
CPEL is also enhancing literacy activities in children’s homes by engaging their families in a comprehensive family literacy program. Parents and grandparents participate in family literacy nights that feature demonstrations and hands-on practice in dialogic reading, and all children receive books to build home libraries.
CPEL
utilizes a variety of screening and assessment tools to monitor children's progress and track changes in instructional strategies and classroom environments.
CPEL Goals
- Increase the time spent in high-quality, systematic literacy instruction in the five areas linked to literacy success: oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and inventive spelling/early writing.
- Improve the language and literacy environment at home and school.
- Provide classroom-focused professional development experiences that enhance teachers’ abilities to systematically and intentionally support and monitor children’s language and literacy skills.
- Collect data through teacher and student assessments and classroom observations to show increase of children’s skills in oral language, alphabetic knowledge, and inventive spelling/early writing to ensure their ongoing success.
Project Staff
Dr. Maureen Ruby, Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Ann Anderberg, Co-Principal Investigator
William Black, Project Manager
Audrey Cadarette, Literacy Coach
Sandra Granchelli, Literacy Coach
Emden Jimenez-Sifontes, Literacy Coach
Janet Johnson, Literacy Coach
Kerin Jaros-Dressler, Videographer
Many Eastern students also participate in CPEL as assessors or in other roles. Read more about their efforts here.
CPEL News
Read the press release about CPEL. (8/29/08)
Hear CPEL staff discuss early literacy on the Wayne Norman Radio Show. (11/14/08)
Contact Information
For more information about CPEL, contact William Black, Project Manager, at (860) 465-0399.
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