UNC Charlotte’s Office of Extended Academic Programs recently partnered with St. Stephen United Methodist Church to introduce a novel summer literacy program for students at Greenway Park Elementary School – a Title I institution in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
The program’s primary goal was to prevent reading regression for students during summer vacation. The church, which has cultivated a relationship with the elementary school, decided to tap the University and its resources in order to create the most effective and thorough program.
“As soon as the church reached out to me with this idea, I knew it was a great opportunity,” said Amy Wartham, director of corporate training in the University’s Office of Extended Academic Programs. “We were able to get the College of Education involved, and as we got things going so many people wanted to be a part of it.”
Associate professors Paola Pilonieta and Adriana Medina from the College of Education developed a three-week program tailored to meet the needs of the students at Greenway Park Elementary.
“We designed a program that focused on the needs and weaknesses of each student,” stated Pilonieta. “Unique from most short-term summer programs, we included an assessment component in the program in order to accurately gauge where each student’s reading level was and to specifically address those needs accordingly.”
Assessing the students will provide valuable data to display the program’s impact and effectiveness when applying for grants and additional funding for future installments.
To extend the program’s influence and versatility, Pilonieta and Medina recruited their summer graduate students as instructors. The hands-on clinical experience increased the impact of the program.
“The great thing about this summer program is that it’s truly mutually beneficial,” Pilonieta explained. “Our initial goal is to affect the students at the elementary school, but my graduate students are afforded the unique opportunity to conduct clinical work where they are actually putting our graduate curriculum into practice with the added bonus of instant feedback and evaluation from myself and Adriana.”
Medina added, “This program has become an exceptional learning experience for both sets of students. Specifically, it has allowed us to provide this teaching opportunity to our graduate students in association with our summer class, which isn’t normally an option.”
In preparing the program, there were a number of obstacles to overcome, including the need for book donations, one of the biggest challenges that also became inspiring.
“My office implored its community partners to donate books and were amazed at the outpouring we received,” said Wartham. “We were able to secure 761 books in about three weeks with the support from businesses and individuals alike. We even had other children bringing us books they had finished in order for other children to enjoy.
“I’m constantly reminded of the saying ‘it takes a village’ when considering this program. It is the result of a lot of people’s efforts all to serve the needs of the community,” Wartham stated. “We even got the UNC Charlotte women’s basketball team to volunteer as reading buddies for a day, which thrilled the children and highlighted our athletics theme of the program.”
UNC Charlotte has a long history of community engagement initiatives, with students, faculty and staff staking their claim to improving the quality of life of the citizens in its service region. University participants noted this reading program serves to reinforce UNC Charlotte’s mission.
“It has been a real eye-opener and a welcomed change-of-pace from what I typically do daily,” explained Wartham. “If we can play a part in getting these 55 children excited about reading and ultimately learning, that’s huge.”