Reading Plus Grant Proposal

Submitted to: Dr. Charles Hodges

Date: November 18, 2009

Candi Partridge
Special Education Teacher
Blakeney Elementary School
100 Olympic Drive
Waynesboro, GA 30830
706-554-2265

Table of Contents
A. Statement of educational problem
B. Detailed Plan of Funding
C. Project Assessments/Evaluations
D. Budget
E. References

Abstract
Blakeney Elementary School, in Waynesboro, GA, is seeking a grant to expand our Reading
Plus program with the objective of helping all of our special needs students increase their
reading skills and to read at their current grade level. The objective is that by the end of the
school year the students will have increased reading fluency and comprehension skills. Our
desire is for each student to improve his or her reading skills by two grade levels. The
Reading Plus program is based on the latest research on effective reading instruction.
Funding in the amount of $10,000 is requested to purchase the required software and
equipment for the program to be further implemented on campus. In addition to hardware
and software, funds are being requested for proper training of faculty and staff.
 Grant Proposal

Statement of Educational Problem

The students with disabilities form a subgroup when measuring Annual Yearly Progress
(AYP). This subgroup of students is falling below the minimal requirement score of 800 in
order to pass the reading portion of the CRCT test. Great efforts have been implemented to
assist students with increasing their scores. Students are monitored bi-weekly to track
progression or regression in reading. The goal of the special educators is to implement a
computer based software reading program at which students can self-pace themselves as
they progress from one reading level to the next. This program will assist with reading
fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and other skills that will help students achieve the
minimal, passing score of 800 on the CRCT test in addition to making them better readers.

B. Detailed Plan of Funding

Funding for this grant will be used to purchase technology equipment so the Reading Plus
program can be implemented in any classroom within the school building. Teachers will have
access to computers and Reading Plus software at any location/classroom within the school.
We will accomplish this through the purchasing of a mobile computer lab. The cart for the
mobile lab costs $998.00. Each laptop computer to fill the mobile carts costs $1,100 each.
Twenty-five computers will fill each space in the cart totaling $27,500. However, we will
equip the mobile computer lab with six computers costing a total of $6600. Additional
computers will be purchased, as funds are available. Headphones will need to be purchased
so that students can complete individualized lessons without distracting other students.
Headphone sets costs $39.95 for a set of sixteen. One year of access to the web-based
program costs approximately $775. The site license required for each workstation costs
$12.75 per license totaling approximately $76.50. A new printer will need to be purchased to
complete the mobile set. A printer will be used to print documents such as achievement
certificates when students progress to the next level and progress monitoring charts/graphs,
etc. for teacher use. The new, network printer will cost approximately $350. A printer
cartridge for the printer will cost approximately $200.00 and two boxes of copy paper will cost
$40.00 each for a total of $80.00. On-site training will be available to faculty and staff for a
cost of $875, including a follow up day of training. The total cost of equipment and training is
$9,994.00, excluding tax and shipping expenses.

C. Project Assessment and Evaluations

There are multiple assessments that can be completed with the Reading Plus program to
monitor and track progress. Students are required to complete thirty-minute sessions each
time they visit the lab. The first assessment students complete is the RPA Assessment. The
RPA, Reading Placement Appraisal, is completed before students begin the Reading Plus
program. The program assigns appropriate programs at the current level of the reader. The
student completes the assessment to determine appropriate placement in the Reading Plus
program. Students then work their way through the other sections/assessments of the
Reading Plus program.
Additional sessions/assessments offered within the Reading Plus Program are described
below:
 PAVE assessment – students take the PAVE assessment, Perceptual Accuracy/Visual
Efficiency, to test fluency. The PAVE assessment is given prior to Guided Reading sessions.
PAVE assessments will assist students in building rapid number and letter recognition. It will
assist students with developing awareness of proper spatial orientation, develop greater
accuracy and build proficiency, and acquire visual/functional skills that facilitate high-speed
reading and skimming/scanning competency.
Guided Reading Assessments – Guided Reading Assessments assists students in
developing greater fluency by increasing the ease and comfort with which they read while
improving their reading rates. Guided Reading Assessments will also assess attention and
concentration, visual efficiency, perceptual accuracy, word knowledge, and comprehension.
Students will experience success with reading and an increased desire to become better
readers.
Cloze-Plus – Cloze-Plus assists students with comprehension competency and
vocabulary knowledge. Cloze-Plus teaches students to use context clues to answer
comprehension questions and identify unfamiliar words by using the surrounding text.
Students benefit from integrating meaning across sentences, understand reading passages,
improve comprehension skills, predict the meaning of unknown words based on the
surrounding text, and test taking techniques and strategies that will assist them with future
tests.
Reading Around Words, RAW, helps students increase vocabulary knowledge through
the use of structured context analysis activities. Students practice and learn how to identify
the correct meaning of a word that may have multiple meanings by using context clues.
Students increase comprehension levels, how to use context clues to find meanings of
unfamiliar words, prediction strategies, and test taking strategies.
Word Memory increases the students’ ability to recognize words and increase
visual/functional proficiency. These skills will assist students with silent reading. Word
Memory will also aid with phonemic awareness. It helps to increase attention and
concentration, perceptual accuracy and efficiency, decoding strategies, and increased word
knowledge.
D-Code is a decoding program that practices decoding with 60 major letter clusters.
Students respond to sounding out letters and letter clusters, quickly associate letters with
sounds. D-Code allows students to master the process of decoding.

Additional student and class reports can be generated by the teacher to track the progress of
the students. Reports can be printed as summary reports, detailed reports, or filtered reports.
Progress reports can be generated to show teachers which students may need additional
Reading Plus time to assist them with reaching their goals. Students set goals to move from
one grade level to the next. Pie graphs, bar graphs, and line graphs can be generated to
display data. Achievement certificates are presented to students upon completion of
sublevel, level, and grade level completion.
 Budget

DESCRIPTION TOTAL Justification

Laptops (6 @ $1,100) $6,600 Six laptops to begin
equipping the mobile
computer lab.

Mobile Lab Cart (1 @ $998.00) $998.00 Mobile lab cart to

provide access to
Reading Plus software
at any location on
campus
Headphones (16 @ $39.95) $39.95 Headphones for
individualized
instruction
Network Color Printer (1 @ $350.00) $350.00 Colored printer to print
achievement
certificates and
progress monitoring
charts, graphs, and
data
Toner Cartridge (1 @ $200.00) $200.00 To equip printer
Copy Paper (2 boxes @ $39.95) $79.90 To equip printer
Equipment/Supplies Total $8,267.85
Reading Plus (Web-based) 1 yr. @ $775.00 $775.00 Program software

Site license for 6 workstations @ $12.75/station $76.50 Access to program

software for each
laptop computer
station
On- site Training @ $875 / day including 1 day $875 Training for faculty and
follow-up training staff
Software/Training Total $1,726.50

Total Budget Requested $9994.35

References

Bell, Patricia, Blakeney Elementary Librarian

Chavez, Tammy, Blakeney Elementary Reading Computer Lab Administrator

Frazier, M, & Bailey, G. (2004). The Technology Coordinator's Handbook. Eugene, Oregon:
International Society for Technology in Education.
Taylor Associates/Communications, Inc., (2008). ReadingPlus/TaylorAassociates. Retrieved
from www.readingplus.com