UAB Wins $2.5 Million Grant to Prepare Bessemer Children for Reading Success

A three-year, $2.5 million federal grant awarded to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Education will help provide 300 preschool children in Bessemer with the reading and language skills they will need for school success.

February 7, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A three-year, $2.5 million federal grant awarded to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Education will help provide 300 preschool children in Bessemer with the reading and language skills they will need for school success.

UAB is one of 30 universities and non-profit, private, public and faith-based organizations nationwide to receive the first ever U.S. Department of Education Early Reading First grants, totaling more than $72 million. Early Reading First is part of President Bush’s initiative to transform existing early education programs into centers of excellence that provide high-quality early education to young children, especially children from low-income families.

UAB is one of two Alabama grant recipients. The Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs will receive a grant of more than $824,000.

“This is a huge opportunity to make a real difference for children from low-income families,” says UAB Assistant Professor Kathleen Martin, Ph.D., who is the principal investigator for the grant. “This will provide the children the best opportunity to develop their language and cognitive abilities in order to succeed in school.”

The UAB School of Education’s Early Reading First program will target five Bessemer preschools, including an independent child care center, a Head Start center, an independent family child care provider and an Even Start center. UAB will use the grant monies to provide the five preschools with books, curricula and other classroom materials.

In addition, the 28 preschool teachers will be able to enroll in the UAB School of Education for instruction on how to help children develop their language, reading and listening skills. The preschool providers will earn six hours of college credit.

The UAB program is set to begin this summer. Children in Early Reading First will be monitored for three years to determine the success of the program, says Martin.

“In addition, the preschool teachers will be paired with kindergarten teachers who will act as their mentors,” said Martin. “The goal is to encourage more communication between preschool and kindergarten teachers so that preschool providers will know what skills children must have before entering kindergarten.

“We are grateful for the help we received from the Bessemer school system in helping us to design an outstanding program,” said Martin.

Early Reading First builds upon President Bush’s Good Start, Grow Smart initiative to improve early learning. It is authorized under Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.