Summer Reading Camp (SRC) Community Partnership Grant (CPG)

Grants to South Carolina schools and school districts partnering with community organizations to provide reading support programs to primary school students in underserved communities. Applicants are required to submit an LOI prior to a full grant application. Funding is intended for programs that encourage attendance through student incentives and offer reading materials at a wide range of levels and genres.

The purpose of the Summer Reading Camp (SRC) Community Partnership Grant (CPG) is to provide students who are significantly below grade-level reading proficiency with the opportunity to receive quality, intensive instructional services and support. Camp staff must ensure that students are provided with a wide selection of texts and genres that are written on multiple reading levels in order to best serve the individual needs of students. For students to benefit from the summer program, they must attend regularly and be engaged in instructional and hands-on learning experiences. Sites should strategize ways to increase student attendance on a consistent basis including incentives for attendance and establishing frequent parental contact.

Funds are to provide additional resources to support the South Carolina Read to Succeed Act of 2014 by creating effective partnerships between community organizations and school districts.

Requirements:

1. Community organizations must partner with local school districts to provide enrichment activities as part of after school programs or summer reading camps that use volunteers, mentors, or tutors to provide instructional support to struggling readers in elementary schools.
2. The participant-to-volunteer or -teacher ratio must conform to that of the school district in which the program is located.
3. All mentors and tutors for these after school programs or SRCs must have passed a State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) criminal background check.
4. A reading coach/reading specialist should train volunteers, tutors, and other staff in the role they will play for supporting students’ reading. Tutors should be trained to understand the reading process before they begin tutoring.
5. Programs using funds earmarked for partnerships as part of the Read to Succeed Act should employ reading specialists (reading teachers, reading interventionists, or reading coaches who have documented substantial success in helping students read) in the summer program, depending on the number of students in the program. A reading specialist can provide the direction and coordination for implementation of an effective supplemental reading program including: a. providing training on best practices to volunteers, tutors, and/or mentors; b. administering and interpreting the progress monitoring reading levels; and c. providing direct instruction to the students at the lowest levels.
6. A SRC or afterschool program must operate at least six weeks in duration with a minimum of four days of instruction per week and four hours of instruction per day, or the equivalent of 96 hours of instruction.
7. A SRC or afterschool program must be taught by compensated certified teachers who have at least an add-on literacy endorsement or who have documented and demonstrated substantial success in helping students comprehend grade-level texts.
8. Grantees must ensure that students are provided with a wide selection of texts and genres that are written on multiple reading levels in order to best serve the individual needs of students.
9. For students to benefit from the summer program, they must attend regularly and be engaged in instructional and hands-on learning experiences. Grantees should strategize ways to increase student attendance on a consistent basis including engaging enrichment activities, incentives for attendance, and contact with families.
10. School transportation must be provided.
11. Grantees must use one of the following formative assessment tools as pre- and post- assessments to measure student growth: Development Reading Assessment, Fountas and Pinnell, or Dominie.
12. Grantees must document student attendance.
13. Grantees must complete a final statistical report form. 

For an Effective Summer Reading Camp Partnership Model, see page 3 of the Requests for Proposals document in Supporting Documents, below.

Authorized Activities:

Allowable activities include evidence-based academic and enrichment activities to supplement academic content. Activities associated with all strategies and/or models must demonstrate a direct and/or indirect link to improving students’ reading abilities. Examples of enrichment activities include music, arts, sports, science, team building, community service, and other activities that allow for building positive relationships, character development, and developing leadership skills.

For Allowable Costs, see page 8 of the Requests for Proposals document in Supporting Documents, below.