RCS News

A.W. Becker Receives $4,000 in Target Grants

A.W. Becker Elementary School has been awarded two Target grants, each for $2,000, to improve autism education and encourage awareness and appreciation of individual differences.

The first grant will allow A.W.B. to purchase Headsprout Early Reading Program, an online literacy program to enhance the school's new K-1 program for students with autism. Headsprout is highly interactive and designed to teach foundational skills and strategies that are critical to becoming a skilled, successful reader.

Funding from the second grant will be used to present a Vincent van Gogh traveling exhibit for several weeks and to offer a three-day workshop with a local artist to create a mural modeled on van Gogh’s artistic style. The public mural can be enjoyed by students and community members alike, and through its creation students will learn about the iconic artist’s life and personal struggles, which some scholars believe were related to autism. The mural, and the experience aims to encourage respect and and celebration of individual differences.

Both grants were written by the Capital Region BOCES Grants Service on behalf of the school district.