Fairfield University Awarded Grant to Track Literacy Progress of Children with Dyslexia | Press Releases

Media Contact: Teddy DeRosa, tderosa@fairfield.edu , 203-254-4000 ext. 2118

The grant will allow University graduate students to track the literacy progress of students with dyslexia and support a clinical outreach coordinator.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (January 29, 2016) — Fairfield University’s Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions’ Sixth Year Professional Certificate in Reading and Language Development (RLD) program has been awarded a grant from the John H. and Ethel G. Noble Charitable Trust to assist in tracking the literacy progress of twenty students with dyslexia who will attend the program’s annual six-week summer assessment and intervention clinic.

The Noble Charitable Trust support will provide participating students with access to a Clinic Outreach Coordinator, who will collaborate with the students’ home school to develop Individualized Reading Plans and progress monitoring plans for participating students.

The Sixth Year Professional Certificate in Reading and Language Development is open to those who have received their master’s in education degree. The program is a 36-credit program committed to preparing general and special educators who possess the knowledge and skills to positively impact K-12 students’ broad literacy achievement profiles. The program provides coursework in scientifically-based reading, writing, and spelling instruction, intervention, and remediation practices, in addition to supervised clinical experiences, preparing candidates to meet the diverse literacy needs of K-12 students, and serve the remedial reading needs of students with reading disabilities, including dyslexia.

Jule McCombes-Tolis, Ph.D., director of the RLD program, has been collaborating with district partners and stakeholders from across Connecticut to ensure that the Sixth Year Professional Certificate program meets the diverse needs of districts, educators, children and families.

“The Reading and Language Development program at Fairfield University, which includes an innovative Fellowship model for select candidates, is fortunate to have received financial support from the Noble Charitable Trust, as well as the Grossman Family Foundation and the Anne E. Fowler Foundation, all helping to improve literacy outcomes for at-risk student populations,” said McCombes-Tolis. “The generous support of these foundations and trusts has allowed Fairfield’s RLD program to engage many collaborative and creative initiatives designed to help us realize our mission of translating the science of reading into artful practice” she said.

Candidates, districts, and parents interested in learning more about part-time and full-time program options, the summer reading clinic, or funding opportunities, such as Fellowships and Graduate Assistantships, should visit http://www.fairfield.edu/reading or contact Dr. McCombes-Tolis at jmccombes-tolis@fairfield.edu .

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Vol. 48, No. 86

Fairfield University is a Jesuit University, rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 36 states, 47 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University’s five schools. In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.