Chariton Reading First Initiative

By Tracy Hall, Ben Schooley, Tim Milledge,

Perry Lane and Jay Pierschbacher

Reading First is a national effort to support states to make every child a proficient reader.

The Chariton School District began participation in the Reading First program in 2003 and were able to renew our participation in 2006.

This is the fifth year and final year of the program.

03-04 fall

03-04 spring

04-05 fall

04-05 spring

05-06 fall

05-06 spring

06-07 fall

06-07 spring

Rhyming 65 85 68 90 68 97 77 92

Deletion 51 80 63 87 56 98 82 88

Blending 45 82 49 90 53 99 61 92

These scores are used for 2 purposes: One to look at how our students are doing and 2nd to determine if the students met the performance benchmark which is 75% - and you can see that the kindergartners did have all 3 tests above that criteria.

03-04

f all 03-04 spring

04-05 f all

04-05 spring

05-06 f all

05-06 spring

06-07 fall

06-07 spring

Rhyming 66 83 83 89 85 97 95 99

Deletion 49 89 75 95 70 98 94 88

Blending 57 81 86 91 83 98 96 98

Segmentation 52 96 96 100 83 99 88 100

Isolation 63 97 85 97 67 98 74 97

Substitution 37 51 75 97 61 96 64 90

Note that our fall 06-07 scores were higher than ever before!

03-04 f all

03-04 spring

04-05 f all

04-05 spring

05-06 f all

05-06 spring

06-07 f all

06-07 spring

Graphemes 39 94 63 98 60 100 68 94

Decoding 5 92 46 84 56 99 45 85

Note: The incoming scores for each year show a larger percentage of students are entering 1st grade proficient.

03-04 fall

03-04 spring

04-05 fall

04-05 spring

05-06 fall

05-06 spring

06-07 fall

06-07 spring

1st grade 38 52 62 60

2nd grade 41 49 37 66 43 59 50 67

3rd grade 41 41 42 45 39 68 53 56

4th grade 43 64 43 65 44 69 55 74

5th grade 38 61 55 62 50 57 44 56

These fluency scores are obtained from the John’s Basic Reading inventory simultaneously as a word accuracy score and comprehension score are also taken. The wpm criteria changes from fall to spring, so this is the one test where there is a moving target. To increase achievement here, means that not only those proficient gained, but some students who were not proficient in the fall grew to that level and then on to the spring level.

03-04 fall

03-04 spring

04-05 fall

04-05 spring

05-06 fall

05-06 spring

06-07 fall

06-07 spring

1st grade 70 76 81 62

2nd grade 25 83 21 86 28 71 14 67

3rd grade 63 90 63 91 68 91 62 84

4th grade 60 88 74 84 66 90 74 79

5th grade 42 69 41 74 48 75 51 61

Ses, males, disabilities students performing as well or better than student with economic advantage, females, or students without disabilities.Because of our work in fluency and the close tie between fluent reading and good comprehension, our comprehension scores continue to be our strength. With a different class every year, this will always be a focus.

Basic Reading Inventory (BRI) data is used to monitor the program’s progress.

Students are tested three times a year in the areas of fluency (words per minute), accuracy, and comprehension.

The fall & spring tests use the same BRI testing form, the winter test uses a different form.

Accuracy Goal: 95% or higher; Comprehension Goal: 85% or higher; WPM goal is relative to the grade level.

To help every student reach proficiency in reading by the end of 3rd grade.

To identify the reading levels of each student.

To create interventions to help students improve their reading skills.

Students are receiving 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction per day.

Teachers have received training and are implementing scientifically based reading research strategies.

Data shows that students are coming into each year performing stronger in certain areas of reading.

All teachers are on the “same page” for reading instruction.

Data is used for SAT, reported to parents, & drives instruction.

Makes teachers accountable.

Some of the weaknesses of the program include:

Time Requirements, 90 minutes uninterrupted reading.

Getting everyone involved with the initiative and applying strategies in their instruction.

Redundancy & repetition of some of the components.

Narrowing of the curriculum, difficult to allocate enough time to other areas of the curriculum.

Professional development to train teachers.

Funding to buy resources such as non-fiction books, PWIM posters, & other teaching materials.

Ability to better educate students in reading to help them reach proficient reading levels.

Will teachers continue to use the strategies learned through the program?

We will lose funding for resources.Training new staff will be difficult.The program requires a lot of training

& takes a lot of time to implement.Will teachers continue with multiple

observations to monitor student progress?

Continued use of:

Non-fiction books

Leveled Books

Explicit Instruction

Repeated Reading

Highly Qualified Teachers

Define what are the essential components of the program that need to be continued.

Continue to have administrative support, evaluation, and staff dialogue.

Continue to periodically collect & analyze BRI data.