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Verizon Grant Designed To Improve Students' Writing
By Kim Fink
 | | --Photo Courtesy Of Jeff Dingfeld Mrs. Joann Septor, Jeff Dingfeld, Mr. Szeliga and Superintendent Kevin Carroll at the recent grant presentation. |
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Higher test scores are the goal for a new addition to the curriculum at Lakehurst Elementary School beginning in 2008.
Last month, the school was awarded a $1500 grant from Verizon, which will be used for new software designed to help students' from grades five to eight improve their writing skills.
"The software we are purchasing will help teachers track the progress of students writing ability and offer help for students who need it," said Jeff Dingfeld, technology coordinator and science teacher at Lakehurst Elementary. "As technology coordinator, I am always looking for ways to add to the curriculum. I applied for the funding a few months back and was pleased to find out we were awarded the grant. The money will help us to use technology as a way to aid students in their writing."
The software, designed by Merit Software, is created to help students through the different constructs of writing and allows teachers to monitor the students' progress. It can also create reports for the teachers and suggest items to include in lesson plans based on the data collected. The package Lakehurst Elementary will start with is called "Paragraph Punch."
"We are in the process of trialing the software and working with the language arts teachers to determine the best deployment strategy," Dingfeld said. "I may also trial it with a smaller group of students like our 'gifted and talented' group. We are shooting for a January 2, 2008 kickoff."
The grant was presented to the school by Verizon Field Director John Szeliga at the October 16 board meeting, and was accepted by School Superintendent Kevin Carroll and board of education President Joann Septor.
Szeliga proudly handed over the check, and was thrilled to be helping the community.
"Jeff's application really got our attention because it was very thoughtfully put together," said Szeliga. "We were particularly struck by the fact that Lakehurst had so many military families in its demographic. We are happy to help our local military families any way we can. We hope the money aids them in their goal to improve the students skills."
Standardize testing indicates that students could use some improvement in their writing ability, and Dingfeld is certain this new project will help greatly.
"The anticipated outcome of the project is the school producing graduating students with a stronger ability to write and communicate," he said. "It will also better prepare our students to compete with students from other districts, who they join up with when they reach high school. If the students are more literate when they leave school, it will raise the level of literacy in the community they live in."
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