Walmart Fosters Student Success

A generous grant from the Walmart Foundation has helped The Shadow Project strengthen its program this past year, providing enhanced support to teachers and helping us incorporate recommendations from the Harvard Business School Association of Oregon, which selected Shadow as the beneficiary of its 2011 Community Partners program. Preliminary results

Lynnette Diller’s students at Peninsula School are enthusiastic readers.

from our 2012 Teacher Survey on Student Impact show that 74% of students whose goal was to increase reading proficiency this year have made significant program toward their goal. Special educator Grace O’Hanlon at Buckman Elementary thanked Walmart, saying, “My students are more motivated to learn.” Walmart funds also helped purchase new books from teacher and student wish lists, much to the delight of Harrison, a Buckman 4th grader who is proud of how much he has improved his reading skills this year. “Sometimes I go home after school and read for two hours,” he said. In fact, 73% of teachers say students in their classrooms who previously shied away from reading are now motivated to earn books. Thank you, Walmart for supporting our amazing children in becoming confident, engaged learners! Read more.

Chronic Absence Begins Early

The recent groundbreaking report “Chronic Absence in Oregon”* found a disturbing level of absenteeism among the state’s low-income children as early as kindergarten. But economically disadvantaged children in special education fare even worse. ECONorthwest analysis of data from the Oregon Dept. of Education in 2009-10 found, for example, that 24% of low-income 3rd graders in special ed missed 10% or more of school in 2009-10 vs. 17% of low-income students in the general population. Special educators using The Shadow Project tell us they see very low chronic absence among their students but identified factors that impact attendance, including lack of parental involvement, frustration with learning, and lack of confidence. Chronic absence is a strong predictor of a student’s risk of dropping out of school.

^{*”Chronic Absence in Oregon” sponsored by The Children’s Institute, Chalkboard Project, Attendance Works, and ECONorthwest.}

Court’s Kids Provides Books for Shadow Kids

Last month, Shadow Project volunteers participated in the Court’s Kids annual book-sorting event and took home nearly 500 books for students in our program. Court’s Kids distributes books to special education classrooms in Oregon, as well as Utah, California, and Washington. The organization is named for Courtney Bunfill, who had nearly completed her degree in Special Education when she died in a tragic accident. Her sister, Kiki Grant, is fulfilling Courtney’s dream of helping children with special needs.

Making a Difference

A huge thank you to our latest corporate and foundation donors, whose generosity makes a profound difference in the lives of our children:

The NIKE Employee Grant Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation has awarded a $6,400 grant to expand our program to Marysville School.

Junior League to Benefit Shadow

The Junior League of Portland has selected The Shadow Project as a beneficiary of its Portland CAREs program. This fall 20 to 30 League volunteers will spend a Saturday at the Shadow warehouse sorting books and organizing program materials used for our classroom token economies, which help struggling students to achieve goals and build habits for success.

Calling all Book Lovers! Volunteers Needed
Court’s Kids, a generous contributor to The Shadow Project, will hold its annual book-sorting event 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 4 and has asked us to provide volunteers. Court’s Kids is named for Courtney Bunfill, who was close to completing her degree in Special Education when she died in a tragic accident. Her sister Kiki Grant founded Court’s Kids to fulfill Courtney’s dream of helping children with special needs. Volunteers will sort and pack books for The Shadow Project and other organizations and schools. Enjoy pizza and cupcakes to celebrate what would have been Courtney’s 32nd birthday. Please R.S.V.P. ASAP to Samantha@shadow-project.org.

Shadow Students Give Back
Students at Capitol Hill Elementary School who participate in The Shadow Project set up their own post office – and plan to donate 100% of the proceeds to our program! The student run post office, which runs for two weeks each February, had students lining the hallway two-deep on Valentine’s Day to buy student-made postcards, letters, stamps and recycled crayons to give to friends, family and teachers. The youngsters selected The Shadow Project as the lucky recipient of their efforts because, as student Sean put it, “Shadow Project is fun. It helps me learn.”

Special education teacher Colleen Digiovanna, who oversees the post office with speech-language pathologist Radha Szenasy says activity “motivates students to write letters and teaches them real-life lessons about money, customer service, and working together as a team.” Thank you, Capitol Hill students for supporting The Shadow Project!

Shadow Story Shared at Dyslexia Conference
Nearly 200 professionals that work with children with learning challenges attended the Oregon conference of the International Dyslexia Association last weekend. Featured speaker Dr. Eric Tridas, President of the International Dyslexia Association, gave a fascinating presentation on the executive functions of the brain and how they impact children with conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD and autism. Attendees visited the Shadow Project table and Shadow Executive Director Christy Scattarella spoke during the lunch break, sharing how our program partners with teachers to help children with learning challenges succeed in school.

The Kindness of Strangers
“You don’t have THAT many children!” a man joked to The Shadow Project’s Program Manager Sam Karustis as he stared at the mountain of 300 pairs of gloves on the check-out counter at Fred Meyer. “Who are all these for?” Sam explained about The Shadow Project’s 1,350 students who struggle each day with learning challenges, and how these kids celebrate their milestones by earning reinforcers such as books, school supplies – and yes, even warm gloves. The man, who introduced himself as Richard took $40 from his wallet and handed it to Sam. “Thank you for helping those children,” he said. “My son has learning challenges too. Thanks for the work you do.” Then he gave Sam a hug and walked away. Find out how your gift can go toward student supplies.

Project Secret Friend
Kids with learning differences are making a difference in our community. This month, we kicked off “Project Secret Friend”, through which Shadow students have the opportunity to help others – anonymously. This includes youngsters at (shhhh…it’s a secret!) Elementary, who worked together to brighten the holidays for children at a local shelter for victims of domestic violence. Special education teacher Cheryl tells us her students pooled their hard-earned “Shadow Bucks” on books and gifts for the shelter’s children and felt tremendously empowered by helping others and not needing any thanks in return. Noah asked his teacher, “Can I use my Shadow Bucks to give more?” Breanna wanted to know, “Can I have a list of things people need?” and Hannah asked if she could “donate again tomorrow.” Project Secret Friend was inspired by an anonymous donor from Oregon Community Foundation whose generosity has had a tremendous impact on The Shadow Project.

You’re Making a Difference
Thank you for your generous contributions through the Willamette Week Give!Guide – over $13,000 to date, including matching funds. Because of caring people like you we are getting closer to the day when every child with learning challenges will recognize himself as courageous, capable and able to learn. And there’s still time to make a tax-deductible donation and earn prizes for yourself. Gifts of $100 or more will be matched dollar by the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation. Go to Give Now and scroll down to Education.

Journey Through Scholastic Books
This month, Shadow Project staff and volunteers visited the Scholastic Book Fairs Warehouse, combing the vast aisles for titles requested by our teachers and students, and leaving with five carts full of more than 1,000 books! A huge thanks to Scholastic staff members Traci and Dennis for their continuing outstanding service and enthusiastic support of young readers. If you’d like to join The Shadow Project on a future shopping trip to Scholastic, email us at Shadow@shadow-project.org.

Our Neighborhood Heroes
We are grateful to our newest school sponsors, who are helping to close the achievement gap for struggling students. The Horley Family of Portland, has become a Shadow Project Sponsor at Harrison Park School in Southeast Portland. Linda Hill of Portland is sponsoring Grandhaven Elementary in McMinnville. Sponsors receive special recognition from the school and connection to great volunteer opportunities.

Would your business like to make a profound difference for children in your own back yard? Call us at
888-747-0005. Click here to find a school near you.

Dec. 27 Shadow Day on Give!Guide
Check out the Give!Guide blog on December 27 for The Shadow Project video featuring our canine mascot and the kids she loves.