Recent News
Connection with Minneapolis schools shows literacy outreach success
From CEHD News, September 21, 2011:
Professors Deborah Dillon and David O'Brien (Department of Curriculum and Instruction), received excellent news from the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) recently about the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) test results. Students who have been participating in a new reading program guided by the two professors showed marked improvement in their scores.
Dillon and O'Brien have been working with literacy leaders, teachers, and literacy coaches in MPS at the grade 6-8 level for the past several years, helping to implement a formal reading program targeted at middle school students who were not performing up to grade level in reading. Their efforts in professional development and meetings with district personnel were coupled with the MPS superintendent and alumna Bernadeia Johnson's (Ph.D., '11) commitment to hiring and educating a cadre of teachers who had specialization in reading. Specifically, the district helped support a collaboration with the CEHD Reading Licensure program. Literacy faculty taught the 15-credit series of licensure courses off site at the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center to support the MPS teachers who work with middle school youth in the reading classes (and the literacy leaders who coach these educators).
Sixth graders who participated in the new reading program two years ago grew in their achievement significantly. The excellent growth in their reading scores on this particular MCA test is particularly impressive considering that the state test recently changed and became more challenging. Additionally, students from the Native American, African American, and Asian student groups all increased in performance levels.
Building Better Readers with the U: MCRR at the Minnesota State Fair
MCRR hosted a booth at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair on Saturday, September 3rd.
MCRR Co-Directors Lori Helman and Matt Burns were joined by Yolanda Majors (Visiting Associate Professor) for an evening at the Minnesota State Fair to visit with families, answer questions, and offer tips on how to support children in reading and writing.
Visitors to the Univerisity of Minnesota building were greeted with an opportunity to share their reading questions, talk with our faculty experts, and learn more about what we do at the Minnesota Center for Reading Research.
Dr. Yolanda Majors joins CEHD and Reading Center
The Minnesota Center for Reading Research (MCRR) in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota is pleased to announce the addition of Yolanda Majors, Ph.D., as a new faculty leader with a 50% appointment at the MCRR beginning in the fall of 2011. Dr. Majors will lead an effort at the Reading Center to enhance our work with K-12 schools to support teachers, particularly those who teach students of poverty, as they learn to effectively teach youth from diverse backgrounds to become competent readers and writers. Dr. Majors will guide the Reading Center to better understand effective approaches to engage students who struggle with literacy at the middle and high school levels, and to translate this research into practice. She will help the MCRR to create bidirectional relationships between practicing educators in middle and high schools and university researchers and provide a voice to the MCRR concerning the strengths and challenges for African American youth, underserved youth in urban school settings, and struggling students at the middle and high school levels as they work to meet state and national literacy standards.
In addition to her appointment at the MCRR, Dr. Majors will provide leadership throughout the CEHD to support under-represented pre-tenured faculty members with structured mentoring opportunities. She will also teach a course each year in the English Education program area of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, where she will be appointed Visiting Associate Professor for 2011-2012.
Yolanda J. Majors is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where she focuses her research on adult/adolescent literacy, instructional design, and academic and social problem solving expertise within specific ethnic speech communities and their implications for learning and teaching processes. She has been with the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) since 2003. Prior to UIC, she was Assistant Professor of Language Education at the University of Georgia (2001–2003). Dr. Majors has been the recipient of a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Award and a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. She was also the 2002 recipient of the Promising Researcher Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Dr. Majors' bio.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Majors to the College and Reading Center!
Dr. Lori Helman and Dr. Matt Burns, Co-directors, Minnesota Center for Reading Research
Literacy researchers create innovative program for Minneapolis Public Schools
From CEHD News, June 22, 2011:
Six Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) have been selected as locations for Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites (PRESS), a comprehensive approach to early literacy developed by Minnesota Center for Reading Research co-directors Lori Helman and Matthew Burns and educational psychology professor Jennifer McComas. The Target Foundation is donating $6 million to fund PRESS and other district literacy programs over the next three years. The selected schools are Marcy Open School, Anishinabe Academy, Anne Sullivan Communication Center, Pillsbury Elementary, Harvest Preparatory School and Best Academy.
Aimed at preparing all Minneapolis students to read by the third grade, PRESS expands upon research-based strategies developed via the Minnesota Reading First model, which improved student vocabulary, comprehension, word recognition, and fluency. Helman, Burns, and McComas, in partnership with The Minnesota Reading Corps, helped develop instructional strategies for students of all skill levels in kindergarten through third grade, including expanded support for English Language Learners.
Faculty research undergirds new Minneapolis/Target literacy program
From CEHD News, May 2, 2011:
University of Minnesota Center for Reading Research (MCRR) Co-Directors Lori Helman and Matthew Burns and Educational Psychology Professor Jennifer McComas have developed the comprehensive Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites (PRESS) that will be implemented in Minneapolis Public Schools. Aimed at preparing all Minneapolis students to read by the third grade, PRESS is based on a research-based approach to literacy. The district announced its partnership with Target Foundation, which is donating $6 million to district literacy programs over the next three years, in a press conference May 2.
Helman, Burns, and McComas, in partnership with The Minnesota Reading Corps, helped develop data-driven instructional strategies and interventions for students of all skill levels in grades K through 3 to assure each student receives needed teaching and interventions. This includes expanded support for English Language Learners. The partners have also established a professional development program to support literacy teachers as they make this systemic change.
Through the ongoing partnership with The Minnesota Reading Corps, MCRR faculty and graduate students will provide ongoing coaching and support over the next three years of PRESS. University researchers will also investigate the effectiveness of these strategies to influence literacy objectives nationwide.
Target will fund the expansion of one to three additional tutors in all Minneapolis K-3 schools. Through a competitive application process, other select schools will receive intensive PRESS intervention strategies. These schools will be announced at a later date.
Read the Minneapolis Public Schools' official announcement.
New Name for MCRR's Building on the St. Paul Campus
The Minnesota Center for Reading Research has been housed
in the Vocational-Technical Education Building on the U of M
St. Paul campus since 2005. Late last year, the Board of
Regents approved that the building name be changed to
“Learning and Environmental Sciences”, and this transition
has now been completed. If you come to visit us, you will
notice the new signage on campus and may view the updated U
of M campus map online.
In 2008-09, many of the building's occupants changed as the former department of Work and Human Resource Education (WHRE) moved to the East Bank campus to merge with Educational Policy & Administration and form a new department. Since that time, the Institute on the Environment, a University-sponsored center, and 4 other CEHD centers have taken up residence in the building. Because of these changes, a new building name was requested to more adequately reflect the current occupants and their areas of focus.