Lehigh Valley Reads’ Angela Zanelli Presents on The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading’s Virtual Panel

Bethlehem, PA - Lehigh Valley Reads Campaign Director Angela Zanelli was a panelist for the national Campaign for Grade Level Reading’s webinar: Improving Grade-Level Proficiency: Insights From GLR Communities. This was part five of the series: What’s Working, which aims to share success stories with communities across the country.

Zanelli was invited as a panelist for this discussion as a result of Lehigh Valley Reads’ success with their micro-credential, which is a type of continuing education for teachers. The Lehigh Valley Reads micro-credential is based on the science of reading and offers four badges, all rooted in quality explicit instruction and student-centered learning. Each badge is equivalent to three college credits toward a master’s degree at Penn State Harrisburg.

Currently, 18 educators are about to begin their third badge in fall 2020. The participants represent six school districts in the Lehigh Valley.

“A deeper dive into best practices for teaching children how to read has allowed the participating educators to infuse these techniques into lessons in a way that will most effectively benefit their students,” said Zanelli.
Zanelli also shared the success of the Million Minute Challenge, the Lehigh Valley’s first and only reading challenge that took place during this past March, Reading Awareness Month. Accomplishments include:
 

• Over 7.5 million reading minutes pledged in the Lehigh Valley
• Facebook followers increased by 18 percent
• Twitter followers increased by 13 percent
• Instagram followers increased by 35 percent
• Website users increased by over 200 percent
• Media coverage in two local newspapers and on PBS39 and another local commercial news station
• Corporate sponsorship dollars
• Increased brand awareness and literacy awareness

For more information on Lehigh Valley Reads, powered by PBS39 and United Way for the Greater Lehigh Valley, visit LehighValleyReads.org. And for more information on the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, visit GradeLevelReading.net.