AU Receives Lilly Endowment, Inc. Planning Grant, Partners with Benedict Silverman Foundation
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Anderson, Ind. — Anderson University and the Department of Teacher Education recently received a $75,000 planning grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. to expand and enhance the use of evidence-based instructional methods aligned with the Science of Reading (SoR) in teacher preparation programs.
“The Department of Teacher Education has consistently prioritized rigorous preparation in reading education for its elementary candidates,” said Dr. Katy Sample, associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education. “Our long-standing reading concentration and, more recently, our status as an approved training site for reading specialists with training in dyslexia provide testimony to this commitment.”
The funds will enable the department to identify programmatic changes to strengthen the knowledge and skills of all elementary and special education candidates. AU’s goal is to improve students’ self-efficacy in applying SoR-aligned methods in field experiences and later as classroom teachers.
Anderson University has also partnered with the Benedict Silverman Foundation (BSF). In 2012, Benedict Silverman and his wife, Jayne Bentzen, established BSF with the mission to promote excellence and equity in American K-12 public schools by supporting research-based literacy instruction. In response to Covid learning loss, BSF partnered with higher education institutions to train preservice teachers in two intervention programs, Reading Ready and Reading Go!
BSF will provide online professional development and materials in these interventions to support Anderson in creating a version of the model founded by CUNY Reading Corps, under the leadership of Dr. Katie Pace Miles, and replicated by American University, Georgia Gwinnett College, Canisius College, and Sonoma State University. AU students will join an outstanding group of national tutors helping K-2 striving readers master their foundational reading skills. Long term, AU hopes to establish paid tutoring opportunities for students to expand the use of these programs beyond coursework.
“The Lilly Endowment, Inc. Advancing the Science of Reading initiative and our partnership with the Benedict Silverman Foundation will further support our candidates’ mastery of these critical concepts and skills as we strive to prepare elementary and special education teachers who see literacy as a civil right and who acknowledge their responsibility in ensuring its afforded to all Hoosier children,” said Sample.
Learn more about the Anderson University Department of Teacher Education online.
Anderson University is on a mission to educate students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized among top colleges for its business, computer science, cybersecurity, dance, engineering, nursing, and teacher education programs. Anderson University was established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God.