Believe and Read
About Believe and Read
Believe and Read is an initiative that seeks to transform the lives of thousands of students by bringing best-in-class literacy instruction to Catholic elementary schools across the greater Twin Cities metro area. Powered by the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) and in partnership with Groves Learning Organization and Cretin-Derham Hall, the goal of Believe and Read is to ensure every student is at or above grade-level reading by fourth grade.
All students who participate in Believe and Read will benefit — struggling readers become proficient, and good readers become great ones! Assessment results comparing fall 2021 to winter 2022 progress show that 92.9% of Catholic school students using Believe and Read were above the average improvement rate in oral reading fluency, an essential indicator of growth.
How Believe and Read works:
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- Coaches from Groves Literacy Partnerships will work with our teachers (K-2 in 2022-23, and K-3 starting 2023-24) over a three-year period using a “train the trainer” model.
- In addition to their regular reading lessons, teachers will incorporate a daily 30-minute phonics-based lesson to ensure students are grasping the reading rules they’ll need to achieve fluency.
- Many of the lesson plans are scripted, so teachers will know exactly how and when to introduce each letter, along with its sounds, and how to build up to words from there.
- These lessons use a multisensory approach that explicitly teaches the connections between letters and sounds.
- Our teachers will get weekly support and feedback from their literacy coach, along with assistance in tracking student progress through routine assessments.
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If you would like to chat about Believe and Read or learn more about the program, feel free to contact us. Also, please help us spread the word about Believe and Read to other families with young children who might be considering Catholic education. Thank you for supporting our efforts to create an even better learning environment for our students!
About CSCOE
The Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) is a nonprofit organization with a simple two-part mission of enhancing excellence and increasing enrollment in preschool–8th Grade Catholic schools. For more information, visit cscoe-mn.org.
About Groves Learning Organization
Groves Learning Organization (GLO) is an educational nonprofit and a leader in evidence-based literacy instruction. Groves Literacy Partnerships® is the creator of the Groves Literacy Framework® and the author of Groves Method™ curriculum, which is used in this partnership with all Believe and Read schools. For more information, visit groveslearning.org.
About Cretin-Derham Hall
Cretin-Derham Hall is a Catholic, co-educational high school in St. Paul. In 2019, CDH pledged a $1 million gift to the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence to advance literacy instruction through Believe and Read. For more information, visit cretin-derhamhall.org.
