Educational Foundation Supports Teacher Training via a 2024 Homegrown Institute Grant

MEDIA CONTACT

Julie Anderson Washburn, Lexington One Educational Foundation Executive Director
PH: 803.821.1008
Megan Moore, Lexington District One Communications Director
PH: 803.821.1152

NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2024, LEXINGTON, S.C. — The Lexington One Educational Foundation recently awarded a Homegrown Institute Grant to Lexington County School District One’s Instructional Services Team totaling $2,766 to help fund the district’s Homegrown Institute, which will be held this summer. The grant funds will help support the growth of new and veteran elementary teachers and specifically build on their English Language Arts base to strengthen their teaching skills.

The Homegrown Summer Institute was developed seven years ago when Lexington District One adopted the Teachers College curriculum. Originally the district hired Teachers College consultants to design and deliver the summer learning experience. However, after building the skills of the district’s literacy coaches, the summer institute is now lead by Lexington District One instructors.

Last year, 56 teachers from across Lexington District One attended the Homegrown Institute with a focus of supporting new teachers’ ability to successfully use the curriculum and implement reading and writing workshops through a labsite experience (summer camp classes).

This coming school year Lexington District One is adopting new curricular materials through the South Carolina State Department of Education.  As a result, the 2024 Homegrown Institute will develop and strengthen the implementation skills of new and veteran teachers. More specifically, teachers will learn to successfully utilize the new instructional framework and the new curricular materials that Lexington District One is adopting.

Accordingly, this summer’s Homegrown Institute will offer four separate days of one-day training opportunities to our Lexington District One ELA teachers, which will give teachers the flexibility to learn a great amount of materials in a short time frame. Lexington District One Instructional Services leaders anticipate serving 400 teachers that week, or approximately 100 teachers per day.

Educational Foundation Board Chair Lisa Phillips shared, “The Lexington One Educational Foundation’s Board of Directors voted to support teacher training in Lexington District One again this summer through this Homegrown Institute Grant. Our foundation exists to support needs in the district, which includes supporting and strengthening the teaching skills of our many instructors in Lexington District One. We look forward to hearing the positive results of this financial investment later this summer.”