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Show A-6 Wed/Thurs/Fri, January 23-25, 2019 The Park Record Team writes new script for learning literacy Funding, safety sure G Software could to be key in session g help preserve C dying languages CAROLYN WEBBER ALDER The Park Record The path that led to Cathy Callow-Heusser receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation started close to three decades ago. She was developing software for a reading program at the time, and she had an idea to create English-learning books that were culturally appropriate for different sub-groups in the U.S. She sat on the thought while working on other projects, but she decided last year to set her plans in motion. Callow-Huesser and her business partner, Charles Major, received a grant from the National Science Foundation last month to create a webbased system that will guide people through developing their own early-literacy materials to help readers learn English and other languages. She said the software she and her team plan to develop will auto-generate assessments and practice items for teachers to use to accompany the literature. She intends to complete the project, called READ! Toolkit, in three years. The software is designed so someone with no experience in linguistics or early literacy can write books to help people learn a language. The software will guide users toward using words with a limited source of simple letters and sounds at the start of the books. As the books progress, more letters and sounds will be able to be introduced. All the users need is to tell a story. Callow-Huesser’s idea for the software originated 28 years ago while she was working as a programmer for Utah State University. She helped develop the Reading for All Learners program, curriculum and materials to teach children to read. One of the main differences is that Reading for All Learners was only for English. The program was also limited, she said, because it was white-centric and did not take different cultures into account. For example, while studying how the English-learning Reading for All Learners materials were being used on Native American reservations, she learned that snakes are extremely taboo in Navajo culture, and one of the characters in the books was a snake. At the time, she realized different students needed English reading materials that were culture-specific, including the characters and the stories told in the books. She thought about how to do it for years. She submitted grant proposals to develop pieces of the project, but she never received the grants. “The idea just kept coming back that we needed to do something differently,” she said. Then, last year, she decided to submit a grant to develop the entire project. She spent months preparing her proposal, working with groups like the technology-based economic development agency Utah Science Technology and Re- The hope is that if we can get kids interested in learning the language and learning how to read in the language, that it really can revitalize language,” Cathy Callow-Huesser, Betterment Labs search Initiative to refine her proposal. She ultimately decided to expand the software to have an even bigger impact. She realized it could be used to g T i t s n s m m p S i c a s i t l PARK RECORD FILE PHOTO d Todd Hauber, business administrator for the Park City School District,g says several education topics will be addressed during the upcoming a Utah legislative session. School funding and school safety and security are likely to be big themes during the session. a Mental health will also be addressed COURTESY OF BETTERMENT LABS From left: Matthew Peterson, Ariel Burriss, Cathy Callow-Huesser and Charles Major will be working on developing their READ! Toolkit over the next few years with the help of a National Science Foundation grant. The toolkit is software that is designed to help people create early literacy materials. CAROLYN WEBBER ALDER The Park Record write books in languages that were going extinct. She started talking with Native American tribes and different leaders jumped on board. “It was time to put in a proposal that targeted the whole picture to try and create software tools to help people develop early literacy materials in any language with a phonics-based approach,” she said. Two months after submitting the proposal in July, she received a call from a project officer with the National Science Foundation. They were interested. After another two months, she was told she would likely be receiving the funding, but it was not finalized until she received a letter Last year’s Utah legislative session opened up questions about school funding and equalization laws, and those conversations are expected to continue in the upcoming session. Todd Hauber, business administrator for the Park City School District, and other school leaders throughout the state, are watching with curious eyes to see how the Utah Legislature tackles school funding. Last fall, the non-binding question that polled voter interest for the creation of a gas tax to fund public education failed. Other hot topics, including school safety and security and mental health services, are also expected to be addressed during at the end of December. Callow-Huesser was ecstatic. “This has been a 28-year dream,” she said. Two years ago, she and Major launched their own company called Betterment Labs, which helped make the project possible. The company’s mission is to create applications and other technologies to improve people’s lives, and she said she believes the READ! Toolkit has the potential to do a lot of good in the world. She and Major plan to first test the software in English. One of Callow-Huesser’s colleagues in Texas plans to create an English-learning book from Please see Team, A-7 LOOKING P the session, which is set to begin on Monday and end on March 14. Hauber said school funding is one of the biggest question marks going into this session. Last year, the Legislature passed a bill to freeze the state basic property tax rate, the main source of funding for public education, for five years. This was done to generate more overall revenue for schools, since property values are expected to rise over the b next few years. The bill also n established a new weighted e pupil unit value tax rate, which dictates how much funding p public schools receive. e The bill was part of a comd promise with the citizen initiat tive called Our Schools Now. p The compromise also includS ed the non-binding question m on the November ballot. Tot gether, the goal of the bills g was to increase the amount of m overall funding and provide S more equal funding to schools t around the state. t Hauber said “everything is Please see Session, A-7 TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS? 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