Picture a classroom bustling with activity…
Okay, check! ✔
Children dressed in colorful costumes swarm the bookshelves to choose a story to read with visiting volunteers from Cooperative for Education (CoEd) and its Rotary partners. These students may be just three days into their first year of pre-K, but they already can’t wait to get their hands on the colorful books. As they sit down to read with their guests, eyes shining, their fingers track along the letters on the page, eager to put meaning to the letters in front of them.
This is the magic of CoEd’s Spark Reading Program—and its power to transform classrooms into centers of active and meaningful learning.
Before Spark arrived in 2023, teacher Brenda’s joint preschool-and-kindergarten classroom looked very different. There were very few books, which the school rented for a fee. They were rotated between all the teachers in the school, from pre-K to sixth grade.
Now, her classroom has its very own library of age-appropriate reading materials—and the whole community is getting excited about it. Brenda’s husband built her classroom a bookcase to house the books. Parents of students returning for kindergarten are amazed by how much their students learned last year in preschool, and eagerly helped craft the colorful costumes pictured above. Many parents also took time out of their busy day to help host Rotary and CoEd volunteers for the program’s official inauguration in February 2024.
But the magic of Spark extends far beyond books.
Benefiting teachers also participate in three group training sessions per year over a two-year period (about 72 hours total). These sessions provide a wealth of strategies based in the science of reading to get kids engaged in the learning process. “Through different strategies that are provided to us through modules, we have made progress with the student’s imagination,” Brenda says, “because when we introduce the books to them, they are observing and developing their thought process and their vocabulary.”
Finally, the ‘secret sauce’ of Spark is classroom accompaniment. Following each group training session, Spark teachers receive at least one in-class coaching session (or even more if needed). This hands-on coaching ensures that teachers are prepared to use the methods they’ve learned in the context of their own classroom with their students.
“In the classroom we also get to tell stories, sing songs, and have dynamic [activities],” Brenda says. And contrary to her prior experience, “We are able to let the students use, explore, and actually get to touch the books!”
What are the results of this magical transformation?
Well, in today’s demonstration, Brenda’s students become flowers, bunnies, even little old ladies—as they act out the stories, bringing learning to life. But much more than that, they have gained a love of reading that will endure and benefit them throughout their lives. They’re well on their way to being able to read fluently by the end of second grade—the milestone that ‘vaccinates’ children against illiteracy for life.
And that’s not just Brenda’s Spark Classroom…
- Spark Classroom 100%
- Regular Classroom 50%
A Randomized Control Trial found that kids in Spark classrooms are learning twice as much as kids in regular classrooms
%
fewer students fail
Failure rates in Spark schools typically drop by 30%.
All thanks to Spark waving its magic wand and transforming classrooms at David Vela School forever-and to supporters like you, the fairy godparents who make this magical transformation a reality.