Lincoln Park Public Schools Administrator Recognized for Dedication to Student Literacy

Lincoln Park Public School's (LPPS) Executive Director of Instruction and Evaluation, Eric Calvin, was recently awarded the statewide 2022 Reading Recovery Council of Michigan Award for his commitment to student literacy in that district. Calvin was nominated by a colleague and was presented the award on November 17 during the opening session of the Michigan Reading Recovery Institute in Troy.

The Reading Recovery Council of Michigan plans and hosts the yearly Michigan Reading Recovery Institute and supports implementing the Reading Recovery program in Michigan schools. The Reading Recovery program is proven, short-term early intervention program for elementary-aged children experiencing difficulty learning to read, comprehend, and write. Struggling young readers spend 30 minutes in a daily one-to-one session with a teacher specially trained in the Reading Recovery method.

The Reading Recovery method was developed in New Zealand more than 40 years ago by educational researcher Marie Clay and is the world's most widely studied early reading intervention program.

LPPS Superintendent Terry Dangerfield says the Reading Recovery method uses an individualized approach with each student, adding, "For us, it's really just taking a different approach to reading. Reading Recovery really helps get to where an individual student may be and what their individual needs may be or what skill they need to strengthen up to become better readers." The district uses the reading method in grades 1 through 4.

Calvin has been with LPPS for more than 20 years. Dangerfield explains that Calvin works together with the district's Assistant Superintendent and Director of Curriculum, Cheryl Irving to implement the program in the schools. Both have undertaken training in the Reading Recovery method in order to be able to ensure the students benefit from the program. "The ability to learn to read is an incredible one that opens the gateway to really, the rest of education, and Mr. Calvin has worked diligently alongside Mrs. Irving to bring Reading Recovery to Lincoln Park Public Schools," he says. "It's a program that is well research-based and has been in some districts for several decades and we were very pleased to have it come into Lincoln Park in recent years."

Dangerfield is pleased his team at LPPS has been so honored by the Reading Recovery Council of Michigan. "Mr. Calvin is a wonderful educator, he has been a dedicated educator, he loves the students, he loves Lincoln Park, and he wants what's best for the students at Lincoln Park. He really reflects the staff that we have in Lincoln Park that we are so proud of, and we're very lucky to him in a leadership role," he says.