Tower Foundation awards $375,000 to Lynn schools

LYNN-The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation has awarded the Lynn Public Schools $375,000 to put toward professional development at the elementary school level in an effort to improve reading instruction across the district.Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Susan Rowe informed the School Committee of the award Thursday night. This is the second grant award the foundation has given the school department this school year.The New York-based non-profit foundation also presented a $15,000 grant to the Aborn and Lynn Woods elementary schools in December, which will be used to add non-fiction titles to each school’s library.The new Tower grant will be spread across the district over the next four years, giving elementary school faculty access to data-driven professional development and principals knowledge to make sure the new ideas are being used in the classroom.In the new era of MCAS testing and standardized accountability, data-driven decision making is the newest trend in education. This new grant will allow teachers to learn a three-tiered instruction method where they can instruct the student and then use data to determine where students are lacking knowledge.By figuring out which students need help in which areas, teachers can then focus on smaller group instruction in more personalized areas so that students have a better chance of improving on areas that they are missing.The department has received a similar grant from the Tower Foundation in the past, which it has used to improve professional development in grades K-3.With the larger scope of the new four-year grant, the district can now include teachers from every grade at the elementary school level.”We have recognized that we really need to work on grades four and five,” Rowe said. “This is a district wide data driven decision making grant. We will also be working with principals so that they know what to look for in making sure instruction is what it should be.”Rowe said the grant will touch the schools with the lowest amount of instruction first, and reach other schools such as the Connery, where teachers already participate in the Bay State Reading Initiative toward the end of the grant.