Curious how AIM Pathways training supports secondary educators with classroom instruction? At the Everyone Reading conference in New York City in January, Dian Frankson, a teacher at Brownsville Collaborative Middle School for Agriculture & Technology, shared some of the resources and tools she learned during her training through New York City's District 23 literacy training and described the transformation she has seen in her student learners.
IGNITE Center
The goal of the I.G.N.I.T.E. Center at AIM (Implementing Global Neuroscience in Technology and Education) is to:
- help accelerate learning through deeper understanding of what works for whom by engaging teachers and students in applied research
- provide AIM Upper School students with the opportunity to be involved directly in this research as IGNITE Center Student Research Fellows work side-by-side with top researchers around the world.
As the first education partner with the Haskins Global Literacy Hub, AIM works with researchers to take on the challenge of accelerating learning for all children. Our first I.G.N.I.T.E. Center study with Haskins Laboratories researchers, titled Predicting Literacy Outcomes in Schools, was approved in late 2018 and got underway in January 2019 with study participants in all program levels of AIM Academy and Upper School students meeting researchers and exploring opportunities to become research fellows on this and future IGNITE Center projects.
News
AIM Pathways partner Lingelbach Elementary School was recently featured in an article, "Here’s how this Philly elementary school moved from bare-bones budget to statewide star," in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The article celebrates the School District of Philadelphia school's transformation and "reading pivot" which has led to strong gains on literacy assessments for 3rd graders. According to the article, the percentage of third graders passing state English exams jumped a stellar 173%, from 26% to 71%.
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently featured a story about pending legislation in Pennsylvania that would set curricula requirements and mandate reading competency screenings for K-3 students three times a year.
The article, "Pa. could become the latest state to mandate ‘evidence-based’ reading instruction," includes an interview with Megan Gierka, senior content developer at AIM Institute explaining the need for evidence-based reading instruction.
The Rhode Island Department of Education recently highlighted the success of Richmond Elementary School, an AIM Pathways partner, as a RICAS Rockstar for their students' 13% gain on the state ELA assessment. The video includes the Chariho School District superintendent, Richmond's principal, and teachers sharing the impact that AIM's comprehensive science of reading training has had on their teachers' work implementing high-quality instructional materials in their classrooms.
“Coming out of COVID we adopted [a HQM] program and at the time our teachers, including myself, had not been trained in the science of reading," Principal Sharon Martin shared in the video. "By the second year of implementation of the program, the teachers began their AIM Pathways Science of Reading training. Things started to make sense. We could start to understand the rationale behind the changes.”
The AIM Institute for Learning & Research is excited support the South Dakota Department of Education’s (SDDOE) newly announced statewide literacy initiative by providing critical structured literacy instruction to early childhood and K-12 educators and leaders statewide.
The SDDOE selected AIM to provide professional learning opportunities and resources as part of its new literacy initiative that supports and guides educators to implement evidence-based learning throughout the state. AIM Pathways training opportunities are being offered free to all South Dakota educators and leaders through American Rescue Plan funding and include learning opportunities for everyone from paraprofessionals to principals.