The
Barksdale Reading Institute is designed to improve significantly the
preliteracy and reading skills of Mississippi's children from birth through the 3rd grade.
BRI Goals
Goal
1:
To improve literacy skills in Mississippi's public schools so that
children will leave the third grade reading fluently and with comprehension at the 3rd-grade
level.
Goal 2:
To work with Mississippi's public schools to implement assessment-driven, differentiated reading instruction in grades K-3.
Goal 3:
To deepen teachers' knowledge of reading instruction through professional development, focused on BRI's Reading Universe.
Goal 4:
To enhance the quality of Mississippi's early childhood education programs (birth through 5), including Head Start and private programs.
Goal 5:
To increase parental involvement in the schools with which BRI is working.
Goal 6:
To strengthen the role of the principal as the instructional leader of the schools with which BRI is working.
Goal 7:
To strengthen pre-service reading instruction at the colleges and universities of Mississippi.
Again this year, BRI will place a Barksdale Literacy Teacher and an Intervention Specialist into the 12 schools in which BRI worked last year. These teachers will provide core reading instruction to the poorest K and 1 readers and will provide interventions to struggling 2nd-grade students. In addition to these teachers, the districts have placed intervention specialists or core reading teachers into the schools (or into other district schols) to implement BRI's reading strategies.