BBVA Compass Foundation Supports Strong Readers

Decatur City Schools is starting 2018 with new tools to support reading among our elementary school students! Earlier this month, the BBVA Compass Foundation donated $5,000 to buy Leveled Reading Libraries for elementary classrooms.

This donation is just the latest example of BBVA Compass’ commitment to excellence in our schools, shown by a lifetime of giving that totals over $67,000 since 2009. Chris Kern, Senior Vice President of BBVA Compass, says, “One of BBVA Compass’ priorities is to identify and address pressing K-12 education needs to help bridge the achievement gap, and we couldn't be more proud to team up with Decatur City Schools in support of those efforts.”

BBVA Compass’ support for the Decatur City Schools Foundation to buy Leveled Reading Libraries aims to increase reading ability and reading interest among our elementary students.

Students at Banks-Caddell Elementary use their Leveled Readers.

Leveled reading increases student understanding by helping them improve reading skills at their own pace. Instead of having the whole class read the same book, which may be too hard for some learners and too easy for others, teachers can group kids who read at roughly the same level and have each group read the right book for them.

We all know that when a challenge feels like something we can do, we’re more confident. Leveled reading does that for our kids. It lets teachers personalize learning to read for each student so that a child doesn’t have to feel like they just can’t do it. Instead, the difficulty of books grows as the child’s reading skills grow.

That leads to students who are confident readers. Students who not only can read, but do read.

Reading is a foundation of learning, so strong readers become stronger students overall, across all subjects.

And we’re thankful for that. Strong students make for strong schools, which ultimately makes Decatur a strong community.

Comments

Funding from 3M Keeps the Wheels Turning for Career Tech STEM Initiatives

3M has awarded a grant to Decatur City Schools Foundation that will provide resources for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education f ocused on career- and college-readiness for more than 500, 6th– 12th-grade students. The Foundation is committed to working with Decatur City Schools to ensure that students graduate ready to enter the workforce or continue their education. In August, Decatur City Schools combined the Career Technical Education (CTE) efforts of Austin and Decatur High Schools at one center on a portion of the campus previously occupied by Austin High. The center is known as The Career Academies of Decatur. The center provides students the opportunity to explore the type of career or secondary education that they may want to pursue through the use of CTE pathways. STEM career pathways, such as Engineering and Machine Tool Technology, are popular with area students. Introducing students to a variety of career pathways beginning ...

Representative Collins Provides Community Grant Education Funding for ACT Prep

This Fall, Decatur’s high schools started their second year using John Baylor Test Prep to help students get ready to take the ACT. For the past three years, every 11 th -grade student in the state of Alabama has taken the ACT as a way to measure the effectiveness of education among the state’s school districts. While the test for standards is changing this year, the ACT remains an important exam for many students in our district. Often a student’s ACT score determines whether or not the student is eligible to attend the university of their choice. After acceptance, their score will help the scholarship office decide whether or not to grant the student scholarship money to attend. With the high cost of attendance for both two- and four-year institutions, scholarship money can be the deciding factor in whether a student will seek post-secondary education. John Baylor Test Prep provides students with online access to test-prep sessions for the ACT, Pre-SAT, and SAT—all of whi...

Foundation Working with High Schools to Create Alumni Directories

DECATUR, Alabama (November 30, 2015) – Decatur City Schools Foundation has launched an Alumni Directory Information Solicitation for Austin High and Decatur Schools. The Foundation is working with Harris Graduate Connection to create a directory for each school. Foundation Executive Director, Jesslyn Reeves said, “We are not starting an Alumni Association, we are simply wanting to communicate with and engage DCS alumni about our schools and the Foundation.” The directories will assist the schools in their communication with alumni. Harris Connection has worked with the Foundation and Decatur City Schools to gather graduate information and will compile up-to-date directories. These publications will only be made available to alumni, the Decatur City Schools, and the Foundation. Harris Graduate Connection does not charge the Foundation for their work. The mission of the Decatur City Schools Foundation is to enhance excellence in education for all students in Decatur City Schools....

Decatur City Schools Foundation

Search This Blog