Five schools receive $10,000 to help school-aged children
The Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center recently awarded $10,000 grants to local area schools to help bridge the achievement gap that has emerged in these areas.
"The achievement gap is one of the issues that occur prominently in very urban settings, where you're dealing with students with low-income families, or very rural areas where there are very little resources," said Debbie Miller, director of the Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center.
At the annual Family Re-Union Conference, sponsored by the Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center and the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth & Family Consortium, various schools and families submitted proposals on what they would do with a $10,000 grant to help diminish the achievement gap.
"All of the information was given at the conference. They took that and wrote a proposal about how they would use the funds in their schools on how they would close the achievement gap. So we chose the five that we thought were the best ideas," Miller said.
Tennessee State University's Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement was chosen to receive the grant to increase student access to technology in the Watkins Park neighborhood in Nashville.
"We really need to pick up steam in technology improvement in metro schools and inter-city schools," said Robert Bradley, director of Technology Integration at Tennessee State University, who is giving more access to technology to low-income children.
Bradley said this grant is "phase one of a much larger program for technology and civic engagement."
"The educational system is antiquated. If we're going to have economic development, one thing we need is more technology for children. We love working with Vandy and thank them for collaborating with the community."
In DeKalb County schools, area school officials are hoping to improve the below-expectations graduation rate by creating an after-school academy for low-achieving students with the grant money.
"We are using our money to purchase an academy of reading. It's a computer program that is designed to help children in their reading," said Michelle Burklow, Federal Programs Supervisor for DeKalb County Schools.
Burklow said DeKalb County has a new director of schools, who was impressed with the program when he saw it implemented at another school.
"We know reading is a foundation of all academic areas," she said. "We hope we can get children working on the program to get that foundation and then learn to read, and then read to learn. We're going to see immediate results with the children's report cards, self-esteem and (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) scores."
The remaining three grants were given to Chuckey Elementary School to create an after-school homework help program, Cowan Elementary School to build a better library and Maury City Elementary School to increase parental involvement in schools.
The schools received the grants in early February and are in the process of implementing their respective programs.
The Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center works on several policy issues, including foster care, food security and implementing mentoring programs.
