Manhattanville College Opens Rose Institute for Learning and Literacy
By Patricia Lavelle
(L-R) Sandy Priest Rose and Dr. Deborah Rose
The Rose Institute for Learning and Literacy recently opened its doors at Manhattanville College. The program, a collaboration between Manhattanville College and Reading Reform Foundation of New York, hopes to improve reading comprehension, teacher education, and literacy curriculum. The Rose Institute for Learning and Literacy is currently offering a 13 credit academic program called “Science of Reading: Multisensory Instruction.” The program, designed for Early Childhood, Childhood, Literacy and Special Educators, is a graduate certificate program that is intended to make educators more effective. It trains teachers to use a multisensory, phonics-based approach to literacy instruction. The program was modeled after the work of Dr. Samuel T. Orton, as adapted by Romalda Spalding and combined with the intensive in-classroom teacher training that Reading Reform Foundation of New York has been offering for over 33 years. Headed by director, Dr. Pledger Fedora, the program’s first cohort of six teachers began their studies this summer at Manhattanville College.
At the official opening, Dr. Judith Hochman, founder and Board member of Writing Revolution, a non-for-profit organization that works across the nation to teach writing to students in all schools, and former head of the Windward School, focused on the importance of effective teaching in order to improve education. The lack of effective educators is an issue that the Institute’s program hopes to address. She says, “It’s easy to blame the fact that education statistics in America are bad. They include huge classes, no money for new materials, and too many administrators uninformed, parents not involved. There is validity to all of them, but one problem in particular is the lack of effective teaching. My hope is that the Rose Institute is going to be a beacon for the entire country,” Hochman said of the program and her expectations for teacher education. Hochman also mentioned teaching must be based on the foundational skills of math, reading, and writing. She teaches students how to make complex, well-developed sentences and paragraphs, and stresses analytical thinking.
Sandra Priest Rose, chairman of Reading Reform Foundation, spoke of her hopes for the program. The program aims to improve the reading comprehension abilities of today’s youth by training teachers and arming them with the tools they need to sculpt students into better readers, writers, and critical thinkers. “They want students to read better, write better, and think criticially. We must be the bulwark against the anti-intellectual strain that runs throughout our society,” said Rose of the need for critical thinkers and better readers. The educators trained at the Institute will work in the front lines of the battle to enhance intellect in their students. #
