Overview- Reading
There are two conditions that create the need to directly
address literacy and reading: lack of sufficient vocabulary and economic
strife. Cornerstone Prep has systems in place to address both conditions. For
students’ skills to reach appropriate grade levels and to incorporate the
language skills needed to learn, it is imperative for students to have more
academic time on task.
Therefore, Cornerstone Prep will have both an extended
day and extended year. Through this approach, Cornerstone Prep students receive
220 minutes of daily literacy instruction separated into three reading blocks
and one block of writing. In comparison to the local school system, Cornerstone
Prep students will receive nearly 10 hours more literacy instruction per week,
which equates to over 360 additional hours of literacy instruction per academic
year. This figure does not include 20 minutes of daily silent, sustained
reading nor does it include 20 minutes of daily read aloud that students
receive.
Cornerstone Prep believes that the school must challenge
students to transcend difficult life circumstances. Success can only come with
hard work and diligence. As a Principal of a high-performing elementary school
in Detroit put it, “We teach the children that being smart is something earned
through hard work. We don’t ask the children, ‘How bad off are you?’ We say, ‘Find
out how good you can be.’”[1].
The culture of the Cornerstone Prep, combined with the support and individual
attention of the faculty, allows students to overcome the obstacles created by
the economic strife that is present in the home of many students.
[1] Patricia Burke, Principal of Owen Elementary, Detroit, MI in Casey,
Casey, Bruce L. Wilson and H. Dickson Corbett, Listening to Urban Kids:
School Reform and the Teachers They Want, (2001), p. 68.