School Readiness and Preschool
Seattle Early Reading First (SERF)
Overview
SERF is a U.S. Department of Education-funded project that strives to enhance the early language, literacy, and pre-reading development of preschool-age children, particularly those from low-income families. The program provides strategies and professional development that are based on scientifically based reading research to early childhood educations programs, transforming them into preschools of excellence.
Funding
The City of Seattle received its first SERF grant in 2002; in 2007 the City was awarded a second grant of $3,974,248. One of 32 projects nationwide that received ERF funding in 2007, SERF was the only project the U.S. Department of Education chose to fund in Washington state.
Partnerships
SERF preschool partners have included Causey’s Learning Center, We are the World, YMCA of Greater Seattle and the YWCA of Seattle and King County. In partnership with the Seattle Human Services Department, a team of expert staff from Child Care Resources, Seattle Public Library, Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington work together to implement SERF.
Support for preschools
Each of the preschools participating in SERF receives the following support:
- Professional Development
- Coaching--classroom teachers are paired with an experienced coach who supports their acquisition of new skills.
- Funding--tuition, books and student fees are paid for approved college classes for teachers.
- Teacher training--teachers receive training on curriculum implementation, building literacy and pre-reading skills, classroom management, cultural competence and more.
- Family Literacy
- Family Literacy Nights--held at every preschool to support parents’ efforts to build literacy skills with their children.
- Free books for home libraries.
- Family lending libraries in every classroom.
- Kindergarten Transition--families receive assistance preparing and registering their children for kindergarten.
- Student and Teacher Assessment--students, teachers and classrooms are accessed each year.
- Curriculum Materials and Training--SERF classroom teachers have been trained to use three curriculums: Opening the World of Learning (OWL), Inquiry Science and Read Together, Talk Together (dialogic, family literacy reading program).
In August 2010, SERF received a fourth year, no-cost extension and will continue to work with preschool classrooms through the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
September 2010 Updates:
- 10 of 12 Seattle Early Reading First (SERF) preschools earned perfect scores of “5,” or exemplary, in the Approaches to Curriculum category of the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO). This category rates how well teachers implement curriculum in the classroom.
- 10 out of 12 Seattle Early Reading First classrooms scored a perfect “5” on Recognizing Diversity, a category designed to rate how well the diversity that children bring to the classroom is integrated with ongoing curricular activities.
- The average score for all 12 SERF classrooms on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was 106.17. The U.S. Department of Education’s goal is 85 and above. SERF classrooms exceeded that by 21 points on average.
For more information about SERF, please contact the SERF Project Manager, Ann-Margaret Webb at 206-615-1112.
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