The Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center, a RE:FINE grantee, developed reading assessment instruments in Bulgarian, Croatian, Romanian, Slovakian, and Slovenian in the fall 2006. Seven local teams of master teachers from partner countries started to train primary school teachers in how to use the reading assessment instruments and develop remedial strategies to help children to improve their reading skills. By March 2007, a total of 118 teachers received an average 20 hours of training, and 746 children were assessed for their reading skills from 26 participating schools.

All children who were assessed were tutored with the suggested teaching methods. After reassessment, they scored significantly higher than on the pre-test. A case study conducted on a first grader in Romania indicates that after an 8-week tutoring program (240 minutes), the student scored over 50% higher than before.

Based on the achievements of the project, the grantee plans to take the following steps:

1. to disseminate the assessment instruments and teaching methods developed through the project to a wider audience in each country;
2. to develop culturally inclusive teaching materials to make it easier to teach and learn reading;
3. to develop comprehensive programs for teaching for emergent literacy and beginning reading in kindergarten and first grade, complete with materials, lesson plans, and activities for learning centers.

To start a similar project, or to get further information, please contact Maria Kovacs at maria_rwct_ro@yahoo.com.