Project Moving Forward, a vocabulary program used at MVUSD schools in partnership with the University of California Riverside, has been awarded a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Dr. Linda Navarrette from UCR’s Graduate School of Education directs the program that was launched in 2014 at Seneca Elementary School and used in more than 100 schools across the United States. Seneca is a Project Moving Forward demonstration school.
“We established Seneca Elementary School as a Project Moving Forward demonstration school to showcase the success of the program,” said MVUSD Superintendent Martinrex Kedziora. “We hope more educators will take a look at the strong learning at Seneca as the program grows at other schools.”
At Seneca, CELDT scores showed growth among students categorized as early advanced or advanced between 2014 and 2016, while the percentage of students classified as beginning or early intermediate fell during the same period. Having the increase at the top of the scale and decrease at the bottom shows that students are successfully moving up the ladder of English language proficiency.
“The five-year grant will focus on transitional kindergarten, or TK, through third grade - a critical time because many studies show that vocabulary knowledge in first grade determines students’ reading levels in high school and beyond,” said Dr. Navarrette.
Transfer space is available for families that would like their children to participate in Project Moving Forward at Seneca Elementary School.