A Calling That Has Changed Her Life

As OPEN M (Opportunity for People Everywhere in Need Ministry) bids a fond farewell to Dottie Achmoody upon her retirement from her role as CEO on March 31, we look back at her extraordinary accomplishments and the impact she has had not just at OPEN M but on the greater Akron community.

It Takes a Village

Key Steps to Reading Success program improves children’s reading abilities

 

Story reprinted courtesy of Summit Education Initiative

Summit Education Initiative (SEI) knows that:

• schools want to engage families;
• families want their children to be successful; and
• books at home make a difference in children’s learning and development

 

Along with SEI, Shelley Houser, a literacy coach for The University of Akron Center for Literacy, had to determine how to incorporate all three ideals into one program. The goal? Reduce the number of children in need of a Reading Improvement and Monitoring Plan (RIMP) across Summit County.

Kindergarten Readiness

 

Story by Lyndsey Schley

Preparing a child for a successful career starts even before they begin formal schooling. The first step the Summit Education Initiative, or SEI, has identified in their Cradle to career pipeline is Kindergarten Readiness.

SEI chairs a team that created strategies to increase Kindergarten Readiness. SEI Executive Director Derran Wimer said the team has been focusing on three strategies. These are expanding and filling the capacities of preschools, increasing communication between preschools and kindergartens and defining what it means to be ready for kindergarten.