University
of Illinois at Chicago Office of Public Affairs (MC 288)
601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7113, (312) 996-3456, www.uic.edu/depts/paff
| May 14, 2001 | Contact: Jeffron Boynes, 312-413-8702 |
The
University of Illinois at Chicago
Commitment to Literacy Education
The University of Illinois at Chicago's Great Cities initiative is the university's commitment to improving the quality of life in metropolitan Chicago and other urban areas. One of the ways UIC honors this commitment is through partnerships and programs aimed at improving parenting and teaching skills in the area of literacy education.
UIC CENTER FOR LITERACY
Established in 1991, the center is a research and service unit within the UIC College of Education dedicated to literacy education. The center provides research and professional training in literacy education, establishes partnerships with external agencies and provides direct literacy services. Current UIC Center for Literacy programs include:
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Project FLAME, a family literacy program in Chicago's Latino communities. Parents receive English as a second language instruction and learn to support their children's literacy learning. Project FLAME has served more than 1,000 families in the Pilsen, Little Village and Humboldt Park communities, helping parents earn GEDs, secure employment, provide leadership to their local schools and enter community colleges. Project FLAME children outperformed classmates on recent achievement indices.
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School Reform-Reading Improvement. The UIC Center for Literacy has established partnerships with several Chicago public schools on a variety of professional development, curriculum development and assessment and evaluation activities focused on improving reading achievement at all levels.
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FAST: Family Start Learning Centers. FAST provides educational services for more than 500 HeadStart/Child Care parents and families in the city each year. It offers classes in basic literacy, GED and computer education for low-income parents and family literacy programs that involve children, parents and staff. The center, in conjunction with the Department of Human Services and the City of Chicago, operates three FAST learning centers serving families in the North, West and South Side neighborhoods. Parents study in state-of-the-art computer labs as they make a successful transition from welfare to work while also facilitating their children's learning. FAST also operates an Early Childhood Education Center that provides resources and training opportunities to early childhood professionals across the city.
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Literacy Framework for Improving School Achievement. The center has developed an innovative framework for improving reading instruction in grades K-12. This initiative focuses on staff development for teachers and principals. The project started in one urban school and is now used by more than 200 schools in Illinois as well as schools in Kansas, Missouri, Utah, California, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
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Readable Documents. The center offers analysis and design services to help create documents that can be read by adults with limited literacy. The center has worked with the Chicago Bar Foundation, Illinois Cancer Center, University of Chicago, UIC Prevention Research Center and the UIC Survey Research Lab, as well as provided advisory help to universities and health-care agencies around the United States.
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Internet Training Project. The center is collaborating with the Illinois Department of Public Aid to develop an Internet Training Curriculum. The curriculum will help Head Start/Child Care parents and staff develop the skills needed to access child support information and early childhood education resources via the Internet. The curriculum will be available in English and Spanish.
UIC COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
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The College of Education is the number one source of Chicago Public School teachers. It has educational partnerships with nearly one third of all Chicago Public Schools, and takes a major role in policy and practice in the area of reading education.
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The college has an internationally recognized faculty in reading education and offers some of the best professional development for teachers in the nation.
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The reading research conducted at UIC is widely used by scholars and policymakers. It is one of the 25 most cited reading programs.
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