CORALVILLE, Iowa, December 4, 2024 — Foundations in Learning, creator of the WordFlight™ literacy intervention solution, is now accepting applications for its Winter 2024 Fluency Innovator Grants. Teachers and administrators who serve students in grades 3 and above and who are passionate about finding and using the best research- and evidence-based literacy solutions are encouraged to apply. Grantees will each receive a free subscription to WordFlight for the upcoming spring semester to help grow students’ foundational reading skills by bridging the gap between phonics and fluency.
All applications are due by January 15, 2025.
“As part of our company’s commitment to equity, we launched the Fluency Innovator Grants last year to make WordFlight available to as many students and educators as possible,” said Allison Zimmermann, CEO of Foundations in Learning, creator of WordFlight. “We’ve seen how access to the program has successfully supported educators with their instruction, as well as yielded dramatic achievement results among students learning to read fluently. Now, we look forward to helping even more students get on the path to reading proficiency.”
WordFlight helps move 80 percent of struggling adolescents to proficient in foundational reading skills in one school year. For example, after receiving a Fluency Innovator Grant in Spring 2024, one dual immersion teacher in California saw the number of students scoring above benchmark on fluency double on the FastBridge assessment after only four months of using the program. Additionally, a majority of students in the class improved their proficiency in automatic word recognition and decoding, as measured by the WordFlight Diagnostic.
Educators looking to achieve measurable results such as this and who are new to using WordFlight—including teachers applying for their individual class or administrators applying for their school building or district—must agree to certain requirements to be considered for the grant. This includes, but is not limited to, educators using the program with students in grades 3-8 whose difficulty with word recognition skills interfere with reading fluency and comprehension.
Applicants must participate in the provided training and professional development in using the program, as well as agree to use WordFlight’s online component 20 minutes per day for four to five days per week throughout the grant period.
All grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. Schools and districts that have more than one application will be given highest priority to receive the Fluency Innovator Grant.
Aligned with the science of reading and based in the science of learning, WordFlight is a unique, evidence-based program designed for students in grades 3-8 who have not achieved reading fluency and comprehension because of deficits in their foundational skills. These skills are typically developed by the end of grade 2. WordFlight’s powerful combination of components—screener, patented diagnostic, instructional program, teacher resources, and ongoing implementation support—help students move beyond decoding to learn how to use letter-sound relationships in a way that results in automatic word recognition. WordFlight helps students develop the word-level fluency that is necessary to read fluently for comprehension.
WordFlight leverages adaptive technology and provides personalized, structured and varied practice in an engaging game-like environment that makes learning stick. Throughout the program, students experience varied task difficulty, context changes, and ongoing feedback that help students develop their automatic word recognition skills, the critical precursor to fluency.
To learn more about WordFlight and to apply for a Winter 2024 Fluency Innovator Grant, visit https://www.wordflight.com/winter-2024-grant-program/.
About WordFlight™
WordFlight™ is the first patented literacy assessment and intervention for grades 3-8 that bridges the gap between phonics and fluency. Created by researchers and program developers with decades of experience in providing schools with effective programs to meet the individual needs of students, the online program is a proven and research-based solution that blends the best of the science of reading and the science of learning to help develop fluent readers. WordFlight is a registered trademark of Foundations in Learning, a learning company based in Coralville, Iowa. To learn more, visit www.wordflight.com.
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