Save the Children's Arkansas Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program

The OJJDP FY 10 Earmarks Program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117), H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 111-366 at 702-714.

Save the Children will use the FY 2010 congressionally-directed funds towards the rural literacy programs at J.F. Wahl, Westside, and Augusta Elementary Schools, targeting children reading below grade level and at-risk of academic failure. In addition to directly helping children, the programs promote sustainable development in partner communities by training parents, paraprofessionals, and teachers and by investing in school libraries and educational technology. Each program uses Save the Children's research-based literacy model, which has been designed especially to be cost-effective in rural communities and has a proven track record of helping student read at grade level. The most important continuous and regular assessment is the Accelerated Reader quiz, which students take upon completing an Accelerated Reader book during guided independent reading practice. The staff and volunteers play an even more critical role in monitoring student progress, as they are trained to recognize breakdowns in specific areas such as phonics, sight words, vocabulary and comprehension. NCA/NCF