Defense grant to fund school reading program

Craven County Schools can expand a pilot project on innovative reading instruction to 14 schools with a $1.5 million Department of Defense grant.

"We are thrilled that Craven County Schools was awarded the Department of Defense Education Activity grant," Col. Frank P. Bottorff, exiting base commander at Cherry Point, said in a statement. "This grant will have a direct impact on improving the reading skills of numerous students to include the children of our Marines, sailors and government employees.

"Our military families don’t just live here, we are an integral part of the community, and we’re happy to be a part of a program that benefits so many schools."

Larry Moser, superintendent of Craven County Schools, said the program, called Fast Forward, is designed to help schools in which at least 25 percent of students are connected to the military. That includes those students in the district with families stationed at Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune and New River.

The school system conducted the pilot project last year at Trent Park Elementary. The project uses a program from Scientific Learning to help struggling readers develop cognitive skills that are a foundation for reading achievement from kindergarten through 12th grade.

"We liked the program and what we saw as gains," Moser said. "Our system personnel went after the grant.

"We all know that reading is essential for success in the 21st century. The more we know about how the brain learns to read, the more apparent it becomes that we need to choose instructional strategies and programs that will result in improved student performance."

Shirley Miles, the Defense Department Education Activity director, said in a news release that 2009 is the first year of the grant program.

"It’s very gratifying to be able to offer assistance to the schools that are educating our military’s children," she said in a statement. "We are looking forward to seeing how the districts implement the programs they’ve developed."

Craven is one of 22 school districts serving military installations that are invited to submit grant proposals through a program included in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act of 2007. The program was designed to expand funding for schools that serve the 92 percent of military family students who do not attend base schools.