Literacy - Columbia Heights Educational Campus

Literacy

The MCIP/Bell literacy initiative is driven by high expectations and intensive support for students with limited literacy proficiency; it prepares them for college and post-secondary success.

While literacy is not typically seen as the domain of high schools, accelerated English language acquisition and proficiency are cornerstones of the MCIP and Bell experience. Given that a fair number students served at Lincoln and Bell are recently arrived immigrants that are second language English learners, the faculty and staff are well versed in easing their transition to mainstream work.

MCIP and Bell understand that the literacy needs of adolescents vary greatly and must be accounted for in a continuum of instruction that meets the needs of all students. As such, instructional strategies have been developed to overcome a span of weak basic skills (phonics, vocabulary, fluency, etc.) and reading for understanding (meta-cognition, drawing inferences, drawing meaning from context, content-specific vocabulary, etc.)

Our literacy effort includes all the elements of literacy - reading, writing, listening, speaking, critical thinking, use of technology, and habits of mind that foster postsecondary success-that are expected of entering freshmen across all college disciplines as well as those entering the workforce. These competencies are learned in content areas and are valued and reinforced in all related instructional areas throughout our students' high school experiences.