Grants from Strauss Literacy Initiative enhance services for students through multiple partners across region
“Students who are falling behind their peers because of reading disabilities are receiving extra assistance and support this school year in part from a coordinated effort to address dyslexia and other learning disorders led by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County,” the Foundation has announced.
Through its Strauss Literacy Initiative, the Foundation recently has directed “more than $1.2 million in grant funding to regional partners to identify students who may benefit from help, coach teachers and administrators in how to better assist them, offer scholarships and more,” a news release points out. “The goal: a future in which all students with reading differences receive the support they need to thrive,” the release adds.
“When students struggle to read, many begin to internalize the belief that they are less capable than their peers, even though they may be highly intelligent and creative, and they can lose confidence because of the frustration and embarrassment they feel,” said Kirsten Russell, vice president of the Community Foundation for community impact, in the release. “When students with dyslexia and other reading challenges receive the explicit, direct instruction they need,” Russell continued, “it transforms their lives, bringing back their love of learning and giving them hope and excitement for the future.”
“Support from the Community Foundation is directed to a broad coalition of schools and nonprofit organizations across Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties,” the release points out. “The partner organizations serve students from grade school through college to ensure that all young people in our region have the chance to benefit from effective, up-to-date and research-backed literacy education strategies grounded in the science of reading, regardless of their age or where they live,” it adds.
“Grants issued from the Ira and Patricia Strauss Fund for Children’s Literacy since last December have gone to longstanding Strauss partners such as the School Board of Sarasota County, the School District of Manatee County, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties, St. Mary Academy and State College of Florida. A grant to the School District of DeSoto County, meanwhile, represents the fund’s first foray into DeSoto County public schools and marks a new chapter in the evolution of the Strauss initiative,” the release notes.
Grants fund multi-pronged approach to reach students at all levels
“While The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity estimates that dyslexia affects one in five individuals, the condition frequently goes undiagnosed,” the release explains. “Identifying students with characteristics of dyslexia and developing a personalized learning plan for them are crucial to helping students reach their potential, but they are just the first steps in a long journey. To help students along the way, each Community Foundation partner is charged with developing programs that help reach students and their families in unique ways,” the release continues.
“In Sarasota County, charitable dollars are being used to support Literacy for All, a Sarasota County Schools initiative to strengthen K-12 literacy skills by enhancing professional learning opportunities around literacy for educators and administrators in collaboration with the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning, a widely respected leader in providing research-based learning programs for educators,” the release adds. “Through the initiative, literacy specialists and interventionists can pursue dyslexia certification opportunities, while literacy interventionists and coaches receive additional support materials and training. Funding for a full-time district-wide program specialist staff position, meanwhile, supports efforts to provide effective instruction to struggling readers and students with dyslexia, and dyslexia screeners help identify students who may need extra reading assistance,” the release says.
Additionally, in Sarasota, St. Mary Academy — a private school for students with learning disabilities — “is able to offer scholarships to students with dyslexia” so they can benefit from the school’s expertise in helping diverse learners, the release adds.
In Manatee County, school district leaders also are working with the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center “to help administrators, teachers, literacy coaches and interventionists and paraprofessionals improve their early learning and literacy teaching skills,” the release continues. Further, elementary schools have implemented small-group teaching strategies that have been proven to be successful, the release says, and they are using dyslexia screeners.
“In DeSoto County, a new partnership between the school district and the Community Foundation, established just this school year, will soon deliver decodable text lending libraries, professional learning opportunities, dyslexia screeners and more,” the release points out.
“At State College of Florida’s campuses across the region, students are receiving psychoeducational testing services that help diagnose reaching challenges, as well as devices and technology that boost their classroom performance,” the release notes.
“And outside of school walls,” through the summer and after school hours, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties help maintain progress made during the school day. “The organization hired teachers this past summer at six sites to provide reading instruction for students hoping to catch up — or at least maintain skills — between academic years,” the release adds.
“Dyslexia is a neurological condition that affects so many students in so many different ways, and addressing it requires a similarly wide range of strategies and techniques,” said Community Foundation Vice President Russell in the release. “In working with this coalition, we hope to build understanding about dyslexia itself and reach every student we can so that no one is forced to endure the frustration and low self-esteem that often accompany dyslexia.”
“October is Dyslexia Awareness Month,” the release points out. While the Foundation’s literacy work takes place year-round, the release says, this month “brings heightened attention to the condition, which deeply affected Patricia Strauss, one of the donors behind the Strauss Literacy Initiative. Patricia found it difficult to read and write well into her adulthood, until she was finally diagnosed with dyslexia,” it notes.
Together with her husband, Ira, “Patricia helped create the blueprint for the Ira and Patricia Strauss Fund for Children’s Literacy, which was established at the Community Foundation in 2018 with an endowment of nearly $23.6 million from the couple’s estate, the release explains. “To date, the fund has awarded more than $4.3 million in grants, and Russell says the efforts — and the impact — of the initiative are growing exponentially every year,” the release notes.
“Each year, as we deepen our collaboration with local schools, educators and families, we are learning more and more about how dyslexia affects students, and with that greater understanding come targeted and effective programs to help them,” said Russell in the release. “We believe that our region can become a model for how school districts and partner organizations address reading disabilities nationwide, and we are committed to taking action today so that students develop the skills they need to succeed tomorrow, and for the rest of their lives.”