Fall 2002 Registration
Underway We are now making placement test appointments for parents who want their children to attend our upcoming
Fall semester, which runs from mid September through mid December. It's important to contact us early, because parents who come
earliest have the greatest influence in deciding our class times. Please
visit our Schedule page for more information!
New Location: Bartlett! We
have successfully opened our new I Can Read! location at
the Bartlett Park District. This location serves the communities of Bartlett, Hanover Park, Streamwood,
Elgin, South Elgin, Wayne, West Chicago, Winfield, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn,
Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Bloomingdale, Roselle, Itasca, Schaumburg,
Hoffman Estates, South Barrington, East & West Dundee, Sleepy Hollow,
and Carpentersville. For all you "northerners", no more long
drive to Batavia!
New Alliance to Serve Low Income ChildrenI Can Read! has formed an alliance with Aurora Township Youth
Services and with the Aurora YWCA to secure grant money to
provide supplemental reading instruction for approximately 30 of the
low-income Aurora children who are already being served in other ways by
those organizations. We will seek an initial grant of about $75,000 to
provide three consecutive semesters of intensive phonics instruction, hopefully starting in
Fall 2002. Our staff is doing
research to locate potential grant sources. If you know of any grant
providers who might have an interest in such a program, please call Sandy
at 630-897-8761.
In the world of reading instruction:
2000 NAEP Results Released On Friday
April 6, 2001 the U. S. Department of Education released the 2000 edition of its
biennial NAEP
Reading Report Card. Average student performance in reading remained
essentially unchanged from 1992 through 2000, with over a third (37%) of
America's fourth
grade children "below basic" (i.e. functionally illiterate)
and almost another third (30%) "below proficient" (i.e.
struggling), for a total of over two thirds reading below grade level.
Read about it in Education
Week.
Wisconsin Policy Research Institute
has published a report
on the efforts of some conscientious teachers in Wisconsin regarding their
experiences with Direct Instruction (the
curriculum we use at I Can Read!). If you've ever wondered why
you've had trouble getting phonics instruction for your child, or if you
have any interest in curriculum at all, this report is a must-read!
Research News Release
The National Reading Panel (a Congressionally mandated
independent panel) has
recently completed the most comprehensive-ever review of reading research,
and it has released its recommendations regarding reading instruction. You
can read the panel's conclusions by visiting our highlighted
copy of the National Research Panel Summary, or you can read the
summary directly on the web site of the National
Institute of Child and Human Development. At I Can Read!, we've
been following the recommendations of the research community very
explicitly since the day we opened - which is why our incredible success
is not so surprising!
Remarkable Endorsement:
To see an amazing endorsement of the curriculum
and methods that we use at I Can Read!, please
read this statement
of research findings by the American Association of School
Administrators (the world's largest association of superintendents and
administrative staff) and the National Education Association (the world's largest teacher's
union).