"Partnerships among School and Community lead to a better future!"
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Grant
Bridgeport Elementary School was selected to participate in the fresh fruits and vegetables grant. This exciting and important program provides the resources needed for a healthy afternoon snack before K-5 go home from school. According to George Sneller, Director of Child Nutrition Services at OSPI, the program has the added benefit of increasing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by all students in participating schools. The grant is funded for the 2006-2007 school year.
The Washington Health Foundation awarded Bridgeport School District a $25,000 grant for 2006-07 (renewable in 2007-08) to improve nutrition and fitness for students, staff and the community. As a portion of the grant, the University of Washington will provide six staff professional development opportunities for staff during the upcoming school year.
Jan. 3, 2006 The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) today announced the first round of Advanced Placement Incentive Program Grant recipients, part of the agency's effort to increase minority and low-income students participation in Advanced Placement (AP) programs in rural schools.
A total of $139, 600 is being awarded in this first year of the three-year grant to 38 schools and school districts across the state. Rural school districts seeking to set up Pre-Advanced Placement and Advanced Placement programs are eligible for this support.
Each of the grant recipients demonstrated plans to achieve one or more of the following goals outlined by the U.S. Department of Education and the state proposal:
. Increase the numbers of low-income and underrepresented students enrolled in Pre-AP and/or AP courses and taking AP exams;
. Increase the availability of pre-AP and AP courses in rural school districts serving low-income and underrepresented populations of students;
. Increase the number of teachers prepared to teach pre - AP and AP ; or
. Increase student, teacher, administrator, parent and community awareness and support of pre - AP and AP opportunities for students.
The award may be applied towards a variety of AP - related activities including teacher training, curriculum alignment, communicating with parents and the community about Pre - Advanced Placement, Advanced Placement, and coordinating pre - AP and AP with the state's Essential Academic Learning Requirements and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
The AP program enables students to pursue college-levels studies while still in high school. thirty-five courses in 19 subject areas are offered. Based on thrir performance on the year, 15, 380 secondary schools in the nations, with a total of over one milllion students, participated in the AP program. Bridgeport School District will recive $15, 600 over three years.
Technology and Professional Development Grant
Elementary and Middle School Teachers have received this grant with no limit for mathematics in 5th -8th grade. The teachers will receive software and technology for their classrooms and training in the use of these programs.
Safe Routes To School "Street Smart"
Street Smart is a combination of Three Common Sense solutions to pedestrian safety. The first solution is the establishment of a Street Smart committee that will educate students and drivers in the community of highway and pedestrians safety. Solution number two is the construction of a sidewalk and bike path that separates pedestrians from highway traffic. The third solution is to promote a healthy walk campaign that utilizes the sidewalk and bike paths to develop lifetime good habits.
Bridgeport piloted the evening traffic safety class in Spanish and English for adults seeking valid driver's licenses. Events that will teach traffic safety rules for bicycles, roller blades, scooters, etc. will be held each spring. Construction of a sidewalk and a bike path from the entrance to the school campus along three blocks of Douglas Street and one block of 17th street will begin this month. The sidewalk will connect with the existing sidewalk on Highway 173. This will create a one-mile circle route of sidewalk that runs past the school campus through downtown Bridgeport and loops back to the school.
The W.S.U. Middle School Math provided professional development for Middle School teachers. Teachers attended a National Math Convention, the convention provided new math curriculum for "Connected Math." The grant provided approximly $13,000.00 towards math development.
Middle School Improvement Assistance Grant
The Bridgeport Middle School has been selected to participate in the school Improvement Assistance Program beginning with the 2004-2005 school year. The district will receive $52,000 for the first year for building-related school improvement expenses. This includes the Educational Audit that the Bridgeport Middle School participated in the first week in October. Bev Bough is the Middle School Improvement Facilitator. She will be in our district 1-2 days a week for the next three years. Resources will be available to participating schools for a three-year period, contingent on continued funding.
USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program
Bridgeport School District was one of 25 schools selected from the state of Washington to participate in a new snack program for elementary students. Congress authorized funds for a program to offer free fresh fruits and vegetables to students during the school day. Funds form the grant are used to purchase, prepare and distribute fresh fruits and vegetables at no charge to students. The snack will be distributed during the afternoon recess. The program should be up and running by October 2004 thru December 2005 with a total of $29,697.00.
"Vision for K-20 Cyber Learning Communities". This project will "use technology to flexibly connect people for enhanced social learning of content and skills" and for educational settings would enable "interactions between school sites with television like clarity and premium sound quality" creating a learning environment that benefits everyone.
21st Century - Community Learning Centers Grant
The Columbia River Consortium grant is operated in conjunction with Brewster Elementary and Middle Schools, Bridgeport Elementary and Middle Schools, Morgan Owings Elementary School, Chelan Middle School, Manson Elementary and Secondary Schools, Orondo, Pateros, and Entiat Schools. This grant will be used for before and after school reading and math tutorials. $3 million for eight schools, $80,000 per school per year. Sherilyn Jacobson is the Bridgeport coordinator for the 21st Century grant.
Bridgeport School District received a generous $3,000 grant from Washington Mutual Bank to develop a coherent approach to using data in support of district-wide school improvement. The funding supports a partnership with the Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) to disaggregate our student WASL data. Understanding the data will help us align curriculum and develop better communication strategies with our parents.
Use of data is important because it will accelerate our school improvement process. Understanding the data helps school staff identify strengths and weaknesses in our students and presents a unique opportunity to craft an action plan that promotes student achievement.
CEE provides exceptional data analysis. The analysis of data enables administrators to understand the outcomes or results of WASL test dating back to 1999. By measuring and reflecting back it will be easier to spot trends in the data. All data has predictive qualities which can be used to identify needs and appropriate intervention.
Bridgeport School District is grateful to Washington Mutual Bank for an investment in the future of our students.
Federal Grant to Improve Reading Instruction
The University of Washington and the Bridgeport School District have received a $241,000 grant to improve the teaching of reading skills at Bridgeport and neighboring school districts. The grant is titled the North Central Washington Reading Consortium and invitations to participate will be shared with Brewster, Mansfield , Pateros, and several area private schools.
The grant, awarded by the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board, will support the training of about 40 teachers in the Bridgeport area, starting in June. The North Central Washington Reading Consortium project will feature intensive workshops with UW faculty, as well as on-site professional development sessions. Participants will improve their skills in reading instruction and will develop plans for sustainable school-wide reform in reading.
"Our students and staff look forward to participating in this incredible professional development opportunity. Training will provide high quality reading instruction for our diverse population using five core principles of scientifically-based reading instruction (including phonemic awareness, decoding skills, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension as recommended by the National Reading Panel. The program will address the needs of teachers, paraprofessionals, and principals," said Gene Schmidt , Superintendent of Bridgeport School District. This is a Title II grant, part of the No Child Left Behind Act funds to be distributed through the states.
This partnership continued to provide reading and comprehension studies during the summer between 04-05 and 05-06 school years. Two sesssions were held each summer here in Bridgeport school district and were attended by teachers from Grand Coulee, Bridgeport, Mansfield, and Entiat.
The Reading 1st grant is worth $150,000 per year for up to 3 years. It is renewable as long as the school district's students show progress. It provides mentoring and reading coaches, extensive training in reading, and supplies any material necessary. As a grant requirement, the K-3 staff and administration attended a Reading 1st conference during the last week of July.
University of Washington Education Grant
As one of seven school districts participating in this program, the Bridgeport School District received a grant from the University of Washington. UW, through partnerships with all seven schools, offered professional development for teachers to allow them to improve their ability to explain the concepts of math and science to students. The main goal is for the students to be able to meet the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALR) and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).
Page Updated By MauraT.
Last Updated September 13, 2006
Bridgeport School District
Bridgeport, Washington