$8.5M initiative will provide help for poorest readers
By Elizabeth Barczak, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Dozens of Allegheny County schools are preparing to take part in an $8.5 million project to help children read.
" I have a great deal of hope that it will help not just our kids, but kids all over," Hampton School Superintendent Lawrence Korchnak said.

The landmark Power4Kids Reading Initiative will train teachers to use one of four nationally recognized reading strategies. The idea is to test which techniques work best for the worst readers. Researchers say the three-year study could change the way children are taught to read.

Allegheny County was chosen for the study because of its mix of suburban and urban communities, said Cinthia Haan, who heads the Haan Foundation for Children, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving education through scientific research. The study is being funded by several foundations and the federal Institute for Education Sciences.

Parents must give permission for students to participate. Administrators are identifying which students are eligible to take part.

"This is going to help some of our lower achieving kids bring their reading skills up and that is going to help them across the board," said Vicki Flotta, spokeswoman for Bethel Park School District.

The Bethel Park School Board is expected to vote on inclusion in the study Aug. 27.

"Any time that you can offer a program to kids that can help them with probably the most important skill that they have, you have to take a look at that," Flotta said.

About 75 students are to undergo functional MRIs to determine brain function before and after intervention. Researchers believe that certain teaching techniques can activate the part of the brain that controls reading.

It is critical for students to learn to read by fourth grade; students who fail to learn to read early have a tough time catching up in later years, said Deborah Deakin, coordinator of instruction at Quaker Valley School District.

More than one-third of American fourth-grade students read below grade level, according to the National Assessment Education Panel. In Pennsylvania, 20 percent of fifth-graders fell below the basic reading level on a state-mandated standardized test, according to the state Department of Education.

"A lot of times there are outside influences, family situations that affect a student's ability to go to school and to learn to read. I think that is going to happen regardless of how much intervention occurs," said Alexander Dow, an area coordinator for the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council.

Homeville Elementary School teacher Shana Baker volunteered to head the program in the West Mifflin Area School District. Baker is undergoing training in a specialized reading method.

"The program will definitely help our students who need to increase reading skills," said James Gdovic, acting principal of Homeville Elementary.

Eleanor Barczak can be reached at ebarczak@tribweb.com or (724) 320-7932.