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Contact: Education Division - 208/792-2260
Idaho State Comprehensive
Literacy Course at LCSC a Hit
LEWISTON - Supporters of education, take heart: Alongside
recent deep and controversial budget cuts is current evidence that the State
of Idaho still sees education as an investment in its future.
Just concluded is LCSC’s summer-semester session of the Idaho State
Comprehensive Literacy Course (ISCLC). The 3-credit course increases
awareness of the importance of improving literacy proficiency at the K-12
level and teaches effective tools for doing so. It is mandated by the state
that all people working in Idaho’s school systems who are
elementary-education-certified and all those who plan on certifying must
either take ISCLC or pass a state test on literacy. As well, many secondary-
certified teachers take the course. All Idaho institutions of higher
learning and many private servers in the state offer ISCLC.
Team-taught by LCSC’s Dr. Carol Nelson and Dr. Lana Elliott, the course has
been available at the college every semester since January 2000. It consists
of three standards, called “strands”: Language Structure and Literacy
Instruction, Comprehensive Research and Best Practices, and Assessment and
Intervention.
About 35 teachers, mainly from this area, came to LCSC to attend the intense
4-week-long summer version of the course. Dr. Elliott feels that response to
the program has been excellent and that for all attendees it has served
either as an important refresher or has provided necessary new information.
“This is a good marriage between the state, providers and teachers,” she
says. “Even the people disgruntled by the mandate end up being glad that
they attended.”
Her sentiments are echoed by three of those who took the class. Raye Wilund,
Assistant Principal at Sacajawea Junior High School in Lewiston, stated that
she found it valuable even though she thinks the summer’s short course is
almost too intense, especially for those teachers who don’t have a reading
background. “It caused me to reflect and it provided functional, hands-on
tools and methods for me as a manager of people who will be working with
literacy issues.” (It should be noted that the instructors are considering
increasing the on-campus part of next year’s summer course from one to two
weeks.)
Cara Nuxoll, a teacher refreshing her skills after raising three children,
gives ISCLC instructors and materials top rating. “Lana Elliott has the
biggest heart. The teaching styles she and Dr. Nelson use complement each
other effectively and the books for the course are excellent.” She
continues, “This class focuses on reading, which is the basis of a good
education, and teaches the language of literacy so that all parties involved
can communicate effectively. In these ways it puts the child first.”
Just graduated from LCSC’s elementary education program this year, attendee
Verna Johnson is glad for this exposure to literacy because she did not take
a reading minor. “By giving me innovative tools and resources for the
classroom, ISCLC exceeded my expectations. I am a cheerleader for it.”
Johnson’s description of another attendee’s experience says worlds about the
power of the course. This person, a principal, was angry at first about
having to be there. In her words, he ended up “having the most fun, becoming
the most fun and asking the best questions.”
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