[CALIBK12] Federal Grant Awards

[Barbara Jeffus]

Congratulations to the two California districts receiving awards from the 2009 Improving Literacy Through School Libraries federal grant program, Dinuba and Round Valley! See their proposals below. To read about the other recipients and their projects, go to http://www.ed.gov/programs/lsl/awards.html

Dinuba Unified School District
1327 E. El Monte Way
Dinuba, CA 93618
Michael Akins
(559) 595-7200
Recommended Grant: $466,779.00

Dinuba Unified School District proposes the project "Cultivating Excellence in Literacy
and Learning" for 5,853 students in grades K-12, served by nine school libraries in Dinuba, a small urban community in California's Central Valley [Tulare County]. Project activities include updating the print collections with 13,000 high quality, recently published, relevant, appealing, mostly non-fiction books that support the content standards as well as recreational reading.  Other activities include adding over 500 audio books to support special needs students, adding access to safe, relevant, websites for research and multimedia projects, and adding desktop and laptop computers to all the libraries, allowing library staff to collaborate with teachers and students to foster use of technology, information literacy skills and online resources, increasing the hours K-5 libraries are open, therefore allowing students, parents and teachers to make optimum use of the resources available. Monthly training for parents in the use of library resources and technology will increase their capacity to help their children read at home and succeed in life. Providing staff development for K-3 Teachers, library technicians and the district librarian  will increase the capacity of library staff to collaborate with teachers.


Round Valley Unified School District
23401 Foothill & Airport Rd.
PO Box 276
Covelo, CA 95428-0276
Kathy Britton
(707) 983-6171 ext 1-101
Recommended Grant: $246,046.00

The Round Valley Unified School District [Mendocino County], a small rural district located in a remote area of Northern California, demonstrates great need for improved library resources and services, to provide critical classroom curriculum support, and to assist in bringing the district's annual average standardized test score to a level that raises the district's schools out of state's "significantly underperforming schools" category.  The two district libraries, serving three traditional and two small alternative schools, K-12, need to be up-dated and services expanded, to provide strong collaborative support, to further the students' academic improvements.  The district's student population of 324 will be served by project funding.  Activities will include acquiring a variety of materials including a wide range of books and software which will be integrated with classroom curricula and purchased for use in the libraries and for collaborative loan into classrooms.  Activities will also include developing students' skills in retrieving and making use of information and in critical thinking, and providing access to a wide range of reference sources, including university libraries.  Opportunities for parent involvement will be increased.  The project will also provide access to libraries during non-school hours, including after school, Saturdays and summer vacations.


Barbara Jeffus
School Library Consultant
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 3207
Sacramento, CA 95814
916.319.0445
FAX 916.319.0172
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/lb

School Libraries Improve Student Achievement.

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