Newsletter text (for screen readers, translation, and search)
Upfront with Laura: GOAL Initiative – Fall of 2026
Literacy Council of Washington County will launch Gaining Objectives in Adult Learning (GOAL): remedial teaching to equip students for GED prep classes.
What GOAL Is
With April’s awarding of the Community Foundation’s Responsive Grant, LCWC is officially funded to provide remedial group teaching in the area of reading comprehension. Individuals without high enough reading/math scores to test into HCC’s or Western MD Consortium’s GED programs get referred to us. Instead of waiting to match each student with a one-on-one tutor, the GOAL initiative will provide classes (capped at 12 attendees) focused on reading comprehension for these students. LCWC students already matched with a tutor are also eligible to enroll. The focus for classes will be reading to understand, inferences, and main ideas – three major areas of concentration in test taking moving forward. The aim of GOAL is to serve more adults and connect them with the instruction needed to meet requirements for GED prep at HCC or WMC.
When GOAL Is
GOAL will be an 8-week course consisting of a weekly 1.5 hour formal class at the Washington County Free Library in Room 334 on Tuesdays from 5:30–7pm, followed in the same week with an informal 1 hour drop-in Saturday refresher from 10–11am in the Literacy Council study rooms to reinforce learning.
1st 8-week GOAL course: Formal Library Class Tuesday September 8th – Tuesday October 27th, 2026. Informal LCWC Refresher Saturday September 12th – Saturday October 31st, 2026. Registration opens August 1, 2026, with LCWC waiting/matched students having first access.
2nd 8-week GOAL course: Formal Library Class Tuesday January 5th – Tuesday February 23rd, 2027. Informal LCWC Refresher Saturday January 9th – Saturday February 27th, 2027. Registration opens December 1, 2026, with previous GOAL attendees and LCWC waiting/matched students having first access.
GOAL Recruitment: What GOAL Needs
1. GOAL requires two teachers. Great news – we have one teacher on board for GOAL’s initial sessions: Gayle previously taught GED classes at WMC as an HCC instructor. We need a second teacher for GOAL’s fall session. This person will co-teach the Tuesday evening formal library classes and lead the Saturday morning refresher classes at LCWC. A different teacher can apply for GOAL’s winter session. The teacher will need to fill out a W-9 and will be paid a modest sum for their time. These classes won’t be taught from a single curriculum or through lecturing – part of a GOAL teacher’s job is to curate student lessons, along with Gayle and Laura G, using resources like a student’s TABE results, education.com RLA content, and classroom feedback.
2. GOAL needs LCWC tutor assistance for the Saturday morning sessions. These informal drop-in refreshers are open to help from any LCWC tutor with availability. The LCWC teacher will have the best knowledge of what GOAL students are working on, but any willing tutor will be a great one-on-one asset. Interested? Contact Laura!
Student Spotlight: A Letter from Neda
“When I just moved to this country, everything was new to me. It was hard to say basic sentences in English. I was scared, dealing with simple tasks made me feel uncomfortable….Little by little, I became familiar with new routines and was able to adjust to this new life.
During such a big change and challenge, you need someone to help and guide you…. It is like a child learning how to walk. By learning to walk independently, the child can discover the world, but in the beginning they need support. That is exactly what happened to me. By attending LCWC classes and having a tutor, I was able to find a better understanding of this new world, make friends, connect with people from different cultures, and realize that, as immigrants, we share many of the same struggles and that some of my concerns were not mine alone… LCWC walked alongside me in this new adventure.”
Ideas or suggestions? Email Laura Gross at office@literacyofwcmd.org
