NEWS AROUND WINDWARD

Windward Establishes Promise Project Partnership

Two major goals within year one of Windward’s three-year diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging plan were to increase the diversity of the student body and to establish ongoing outreach and resources for underserved communities. To meet those goals, in the fall of 2020, The Windward School and The Windward Institute partnered with Promise Project, a nonprofit organization that serves New York City schoolchildren from low-income backgrounds who are struggling with learning and attention issues. Through their program, PROMISE at Columbia, children receive, at low or no-cost, state-of-the-art neuropsychological assessments, clinical recommendations, and the necessary follow-up to get the services they need to learn.

Windward’s ThreePronged Approach

Since the inception of its partnership with the Promise Project, Windward has taken steps toward advancing equity in education in underresourced populations. 1. Increasing opportunity for Promise students to benefit from

Windward’s instructional program: The Promise Clinic and

Windward’s Admissions teams have regularly collaborated to identify and admit students who would benefit from explicit, structured, sequential literacy instruction. For the 2021-22 academic year, Windward committed to offering scholarship assistance.

2. Expanding the reach of instruction and faculty expertise

through a collaborative tutoring project: This spring, The

Windward Institute and Promise Clinic teams launched a pilot program to pair Windward faculty with students already participating in the Promise Clinic programs. Windward tutors worked with students virtually throughout the summer, noting the progress made in students’ reading using Windward’s instructional program. The tutors shared that they enjoyed the opportunity in partnering with the Promise Clinic to cultivate relationships with more students across New York City, beyond

Windward. This tutoring project, which expands upon The

Windward Institute’s pillars and mission, will continue throughout the 2021–22 academic school year.

3. Targeting the needs of older students through Windward’s

renowned summer program: Members of the Promise Clinic and The Windward’s School Summer Program leadership team identified older students to participate in the four-week academic and social program. Through this partnership with Promise Project, Windward’s aim is to truly embody its mission, to live its vision of a world where every child with a language-based learning disability is empowered to achieve unlimited success.

Wyoming Educators Called to Disrupt the Status Quo

At the Wyoming Department of Education Embracing Literacy conference on July 20, Special Projects Advisor to The Windward Institute, John J. Russell, EdD, gave a presentation, “Disrupting the Status Quo: Advancing ResearchBased Practices,” to an audience of more than 500 attendees, including educators, administrators, and legislators on how they could improve literacy rates in Wyoming through changes in preservice programs and certification. The state is reevaluating its reading curriculum and teaching models, as research shows significant room for improvement for students. The latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) worldwide ranking of average scores of math, science, and reading ranked the United States as 31st in the world for students’ scholastic performance. Meanwhile, The Nation’s Report Card indicated 59% of Wyoming fourth grade students were reading below the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) proficient level and 66% of Wyoming eighth grade students were reading below the NAEP proficient level.

In his presentation, Dr. Russell outlined six strategies for disrupting the educational status quo in Wyoming: clarifying terminology, establishing the components of scientifically-based reading programs, improving teacher preparation, strengthening licensing requirements, using data to drive decision making, and advocating the Science of Reading in all classrooms.

Dr. Russell was then invited by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow to meet with additional Wyoming educators on September 21 at the Wyoming Education Summit “Pursuing Excellence Together: Moving Forward.” He joined fellow speakers, including psychologist David Yeager and authors Frederick Hess and Pedro Noguera, to share knowledge on education, leadership, and instruction in K-12 education. Read more on the six strategies to disrupt the educational status quo in Inside the Institute penned by Dr. Russell on page 14.

Windward/Haskins Study Enters Year 3 of Data Collection

The Windward Institute continues to move forward with its partnership with the Haskins Global Literacy Hub in its multi-year research project, Predicting Literacy Outcomes at The Windward School (PLOW). The longitudinal study is entering its third year, focusing on in-school research to better understand which instructional strategies work best for which students, a critical step in moving toward individualized brain-based instructional programs.

The Windward students, known as Junior Scientists, participating in the study are asked to perform behavioral assessments, which analyze their reading and language skills over the course of their instruction at The Windward School. Brain imaging from electroencephalography (EEG) testing is another tool that provides Haskins researchers with a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of speech and print processing for children with language-based learning disabilities to help identify new biomarkers of response to intervention.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, EEG data was not collected during the 2020-21 school year, but other behavioral measrures were collected on a virtual platform giving the research team another interesting data component to consider. Full EEG data collection resumed, along with the behavioral assessments, on-site at Windward’s campuses in October 2021.

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Meet the PLOW Research Study Team

Haskins Laboratories Members

Nicole Landi Director of EEG Research and Principal Investigator Daniel Kleinman Research Scientist

Nikole Parrilla Research Associate

Institute

A division of The Windward School

TheBeacon

The Windward Institute Journal for Educators and Parents

Fall 2021

EDITORIAL BOARD Jamie Williamson, EdS Head of School and Director of The Windward Institute John J. Russell, EdD Special Projects Advisor Annie Stutzman, MS Associate Director Danielle Scorrano Research & Development Director

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Resha Conroy Jana Cook Stephanie Huie Emily Solari, PhD Kristen Wynn

EDITOR Stephanie Huie Associate Director of Digital Communications& Publications

PHOTOGRAPHY Stephanie Huie

DESIGN The Blank Page, NYC

The Beacon is a biannual journal publication for educators and parents of children with languagebased learning disabilities that will support the Institute in advancing its mission. Every issue will contain manuscripts documenting the latest research, thought pieces by Windward leaders, a Q&A series with inspirational leaders in the world of dyslexia, and stories of how Windward is closing the knowledge gap between proven research and current teaching practices. To be added to The Beacon mailing list, visit www.thewindwardschool.org/WImailinglist

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A division of The Windward School

The Windward Institute, established in January 2020, has a mission to increase childhood literacy rates by disrupting the educational status quo to save more lives.

THE 4 PILLARS OF THE WINDWARD INSTITUTE

Establishes Partnerships

Advocates for students with languagebased learning disabilities

Offers Professional Development

Enhances Windward’s reputation and expertise

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