“DSEF is successful due to the overwhelming support provided by the Dover and Sherborn communities,” remarks Catherine Moore. “I am proud to contribute to this effort by acting as a co-chair for the 2010 Phonathon.”
The Dover Sherborn Education Fund, now in its 25th year, is a community-supported
organization that is the mechanism for funding teacher initiated grant requests for the
Dover Sherborn Regional School System. While many parents and students associate
DSEF with technology funding, there are a variety of other, non-technical programs that
DSEF is proud to support.
One of the foremost examples is DSEF’s continued support of the Balanced Literacy
Programs at Pine Hill and Chickering elementary schools. Grant monies continue to
support professional development for our educators, specifically in developing our
children’s reading and writing skills. The most recent grant awards have supported our
teachers in learning to effectively lead the Writer’s Workshop, an instructional model that
encourages students in all grades to improve their writing by making the process a
thoughtful and continual part of the classroom curriculum. Additionally, the new
methods learned by our teachers through training in the Writer’s Workshop model allow
them to assess their students’ individual learning styles and skill levels, and then teach
the skills and techniques that will improve their writing.
“Through the generosity of DSEF, along with the Pine Hill CSA, we have been able to
have Kathy Dodwell, a well-known literacy consultant, come to Pine Hill for eight days
throughout the year,” states Pine Hill School’s Principal, Veronica Kenney. “Kathy has
modeled lessons in classrooms, consulted with individual teachers, worked with groups
of teachers, and presented a workshop to the faculty. She is highly regarded and
teachers have benefited greatly from working with her”.
“DSEF has been a tremendous support to us over the years”, adds Chickering
Elementary School’s Principal Kirk Downing. “Over the last three years they have
funded several highly important initiatives at the Chickering School. DSEF helped us
launch our Balanced Literacy initiative by subsidizing the cost of hiring Tufts
University consultants. As a result we have implemented a highly effective model of
professional development that is focused on strengthening literacy instruction across the entire school. We are incredibly grateful to the DSEF for supporting our initiatives in
such a meaningful way”.
DSEF is proud to support our schools! If you haven’t done so already, please consider
supporting DSEF on February 8th and 9th during our annual fundraising phonathon.
For more information on DSEF, please visit our website at www.DSEF.com
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