Office of Accountability

Supplemental Educational Services
Service Summary Information

Mercier Literacy Program for Children

1.

Name of organization:

 Mercier Literacy Program for Children

Primary location:

 99 Ridgeland Road, Suite D
Rochester, NY 14623

Contact information:
(phone / email / website):

Kerrie Merz
244-8452
Kmerz1@rochester.rr.com

www.mercierliteracyprogram.org/

LEAs where service will be provided:

 Rochester City School District

2.

Years provider has delivered service:

 4

3.

Evidence that services have been effective:

The Mercier Literacy Programs has offered Saturday School and summer "Reading Camp" completely free to students at School 9 in the Rochester City School District for the past three years.
Pre- and post-assessments conducted by trained NYS certified teachers on every student in our program show improvement in all areas of literacy including:

  • There were 100 students registered, of which 89 had consistent attendance. This is noteworthy because it exceeds our goal of 80% attendance. Other summar programs at school #45 had only 70% attendance.
  • 100% of the students showed improvement on reading assessments. This included the DRA, a comprehensive reading assessment measuring fluency and comprehension. It is used in most schools in New York and is also highly regarded throughout the country.
  • 100% of the students showed improvement in the Marie Clay Concepts About Print test her Letter Identification assessment. These are assessments for children in kindergarten and first grade measuring early literacy skills including letter identification and sounds. Marie Clay is world renown for her work in early childhood literacy.
  • 100% of the students made gains in a sight word identification assessment. This measures how many high frequency words a student automatically can read. The words a child knows immediately, the less time he/she has to spend decoding unknown words. Having a large sight word vocabulary makes on a more fluent reader.
  • 100% maintained or improved their writting skills. A five point rubric was used to measure a student's ideas, organization, supporting details, sentence variety, punctuation, and grammer. About 60% showed improvement.
The Mercier Literacy Program also worked to enhance the home literacy environment by sending home new books and writing supplies every week to be shared with families.
We pride ourselves on also being able to improve children's attitudes toward literacy, always striving to help students see themselves as readers and writers. This is not measured with assessments, but with smiles and other behaviors teachers can see when their students shine with confidence.

4.

Title of the instructional program, curriculum series to be used (if appropriate):

 Developmental Reading Assessment Concepts about Print, Marie C. Clay

5.

Grade level(s) the provider will serve:

 K-6

6.

Content area(s) provider will serve:

 English Language Arts

7.

Number of sessions provided per week, if applicable:

 1

8.

Average length of each service session (minutes/hours):

 3

9.

Duration of the available service period (e.g. September 1 – June 30; September 1 – August 31; weekends only; summer school only; specific number of weeks or hours, other, etc;):

 September 5 - June 15

10.

Type of instruction:

 Small group of 10-1, 6-1 and one on one instruction.

10a

Description of methods and strategies for serving eligible students with disabilities:

 The Mercier Literacy Program employs six certified special education teachers. Each child with a disability is placed in the class of a special education teacher. This teacher is equipped to provide the appropriate instruction and differentiated methodologies based on assessed needs. for example, a student with a processing disability benefits from breaking a lesson into parts and a higher percentage of one-on-one instruction time. A student with a general learning disability who is unable to make connections to literature receives picture clue cards to help them make the connection visually. Our students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) benefit from one-on-one support, preferred seating, extended time for assignments and frequent breaks.

10b

Description of methods and strategies for serving eligible students with limited English proficiency:

 One of our teachers is fluent in Spanish. She frequently translates for parents. English Language Learners (ELL) are provided with bilingual peer support. We have picture books written in English and Spanish. We encourage ELL students to embrace their backgrounds and share their culture through writing and speaking.

11.

Qualifications of the service provider(s)/instructor(s):

 NYS Teacher certification, masters degrees in education.

12.

Reports to parents, teachers, and LEA (Content, frequency, method of delivery):

 Written 10-week progress reports filed online with LEA are sent home with children.

13.

Will transportation to the service location be provided at no charge if requested? (Note: LEAs are not required to provide or pay for transportation)

 Yes

14.

Additional relevant information:

 
Last Updated: May 3, 2012