Community Outreach: VSU Celebrates Opening of Valdosta LiteracyCenter
October 14, 2011
11-186
Jessica Pope
Communications and Media Relations Coordinator
Community Outreach: VSU Celebrates Opening of Valdosta LiteracyCenter
"Research shows that children who read well in the early grades
are far more successful in later years and those who fall behind
often stay behind when it comes to academic achievement. Reading
opens the door to learning about math, history, science,
literature, geography, and much more. Thus, young, capable readers
can succeed in these subjects, take advantage of other
opportunities (such as reading for pleasure), and develop
confidence in their own abilities. On the other hand, those
students who cannot read well are much more likely to drop out of
school and be limited to low-paying jobs throughout their lives.
Reading is undeniably critical to success in today's society." --
U.S. Department of Education.
VALDOSTA -- Rachael Wilkerson credits Valdosta State University
with helping her 8-year-old daughter Mirycle develop a real
enthusiasm for learning. The J.L. Lomax Elementary School second
grader has improved her reading ability and plans to now seek extra
help in mathematics.
And she is doing it all through the Valdosta Literacy Center, which
is located at VSU’s Dewar College of Education.
The Wilkersons joined VSU Thursday afternoon in celebrating the
grand opening of the new Valdosta Literacy Center. The college was
buzzing as faculty, staff, students, and community families
gathered to hear all that the center has to offer now and all that
the center plans to offer in the near future.
“We are seeing the benefits,” Rachael Wilkerson said, adding that
her daughter’s reading level has already improved.
The Valdosta Literacy Center’s mission is to be an integrated
system of care for the children and families of Valdosta and
surrounding areas with a focus on building children’s literacy
skills, motivation, and confidence. The center serves children in
grades kindergarten through five, but programs are currently being
developed for middle school and high school students, said Dr. Gina
Doepker, center director and a professor in the Department of Early
Childhood and Special Education.
The Valdosta Literacy Center was formerly known as the Literacy
Place Reading Clinic, which provided tutoring services to community
children in the elementary grades, Doepker said. When she was named
director of the clinic, Doepker said she immediately “began
building what I know will be a great community resource for the
children and families. I renamed it the Valdosta Literacy Center to
give the community families of Valdosta ownership of this center. I
have big plans for this center that will benefit the community
children, families, and VSU.”
The Valdosta Literacy Center offers several programs designed to
help children in the elementary grades build literacy skills, gain
confidence, and be more motivated to want to read for both pleasure
and study. Doepker said community children have been participating
in the programs since Sept. 12.
• Literacy Education Assessment Program (LEAP): This is a literacy
tutoring program that involves VSU pre-service teachers assessing
the community children’s current literacy skills, developing
specific literacy goals, providing one-on-one research-based
literacy instruction and intervention, and monitoring the
children’s literacy development progress.
• Blazing Through Books Program: This feeder program for LEAP pairs
VSU athletes and students with community children in one-on-one and
small group literacy skill-building activities, such as reading,
writing, listening, and speaking.
• Multidisciplinary Child Advocacy Team (M-CAT): Through this
program, any and all departments at VSU, as well as interested
community organizations, provide identified services for the
community children and families, such as comprehensive assessments,
health screenings, family support and therapy, content area
tutoring, shadowing opportunities, adult literacy, and much
more.
• Dear Blazer Buddy: This is a pen pal program that pairs community
children with VSU athletes and students. It is designed to get the
children involved in a reading and writing activity that is fun and
motivating.
• Blazer Books Television Series: This is a developing program that
gives all VSU faculty, staff, and students, as well as area public
schools, organizations, and others the opportunity to read and/or
recommend their favorite childhood book on camera.
“I do have plans to recruit retired teachers and out-of-work
teachers to help as well,” Doepker said, adding that she does not
plan to limit the number of children the Valdosta Literacy Center
assists “if I do not have to have a limit.”
Already thinking ahead to the future, Doepker said, “We are
developing a family literacy program that will include a parent
education series as well as a preschool literacy program. The
parent education series and child health screenings are being
planned for future semesters. A website for the Valdosta Literacy
Center is being constructed.”
VSU has had some sort of literacy outreach initiative since 1989.
However, having a series of programs like those now offered at the
Valdosta Literacy Center has been a dream for more than two
decades, said Dr. Karla Hull, interim dean of the Dewar College of
Education.
“Literacy changes lives,” she said.
According to the National Information Center for Children and Youth
with Disabilities, approximately 10 million children in the United
States have difficulty reading. Of these children, 10 to 15 percent
eventually drop out of high school and only two percent complete a
four-year college degree.
Dr. Louis Levy, interim VSU president, said the Valdosta Literacy
Center will serve as a model for improving literacy levels
throughout the region.
“Valdosta State University is proud to be part of the solution to a
national problem,” he said.
For more information, please contact Dr. Gina M. Doepker, Valdosta
Literacy Center director and professor in VSU’s Department of Early
Childhood and Special Education, at (229) 333-5625 or gmdoepker@valdosta.edu
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