Kennesaw State University announced in a news release that a program that serves children in the Cobb County and Marietta public schools designed to help students close the learning gaps created by disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic has received a $332,449 grant.

According to the news release:

Bagwell College of Education associate professor Megan Adams and associate professor Sanjuana Rodriguez head the Academy for Language and Literacy. They, along with program director Allison Garefino of the Children and Family Programs (CFP) in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services are working together on the project called Wellbeing-Reading-Inclusion-Trauma-Engagement (WRITE). 

WRITE focuses on both helping the students overcome the effects of the interruptions due to the pandemic, and also equipping “adults in the children’s lives with strategies and techniques to promote positive relationships and wellbeing to ease traumatic effects of the pandemic, too.”

“This grant will make it possible for us to continue a much-needed program in our backyard,” Adams said for the news release. “I am proud of the work we’ve done so far, both for the children who need the help and for the KSU students who benefit from the added clinical hours with those children.”

Rodriguez stated that the grant funds will be used to mitigate the effects of the shifts from in-person to virtual learning.

“We know parents want afterschool and summer programs for kids because they realize that kids were out of school a lot in the past nearly two years,” Rodriguez said.

According to the news release the program has already achieved measurable results.

“Sanjuana and Megan’s work addresses academic learning support because of the learning loss for COVID,” Garefino said. “Combined with CFP’s work in health and wellbeing, the WRITE program excels in a number of critical areas required under the ARP funding.”

To read further details on this program, follow this link to the full article on the KSU website.