Below you will see the agenda for the April School Board meeting.
In addition to the construction report, a few other important discussions will take place at the April School Board Meeting.
The new math textbook adoption will be discussed. Since our math series is 10 years old, this is a welcome change. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this happen.
The bids/contracts for service providers will be reviewed. In this discussion, you will be able to see where some of your tax dollars go.
Of even greater importance will be the Remedial Reading Program Review. If you have a child in the remedial reading program or if your child has been recommended for summer school, this is one meeting you will not want to miss.
Young children spend their early grade level years "learning to read." By third grade, they are "reading to learn." Children reading below grade level by third grade often struggle throughout their entire lives - without intervention, 74% never catch up. The difference between children who can read at grade level and those who can't is known among educators as the third grade reading gap.
The effects of the third grade reading gap is felt throughout the entire community - economically, socially and culturally - now, and in the long run.
A recommended book on this topic is The 90% Reading Goal by Lynn Fielding, Nancy Kerr and Paul Rosier. A review of the book can be found here: http://virtual-institute.us/90%25.htm.
Additional information can be found at the National Children's Reading Foundation. Go to http://www.readingfoundation.org/ and click on the research link.
One of our goals is to increase attendance at board meeting in addition to broadcasting them on the Internet. Please try to attend this month's meeting on April 15 at 7:00 p.m. at the middle school to help us build community awareness and involvement.
3 comments:
I disagree with your 90% reading goal. I believe a goal should be 100%. And I truly believe an acceptable rate of achievement in this district can and should be 95% reading at grade level by third grade and every grade thereafter. The problem is Orton-Gillingham is not enough to get us there. OG is a fine way to teach phonics. The move from phonics to reading fluency happens automatically for some children, for others we need a systematic method of direct instruction in fluency. When basic fluency is achieved, comprehension strategies must be taught.
This means we need to CONSISTENTLY teach reading and spelling from PreK-8. There are several balanced, multisensory teaching systems available that provide a K-8 curriculum for progressively teaching reading and spelling through 8th grade (and beyond). In particular parents have reported success with the Wilson method. Recently, I have been priviledged to see someone using the Stevenson system and was also impressed with it.
However, it is not just providing these materials that is necessary. We must also train our teachers to the mastery level so that they feel confident and supported when implementing these strategies in the classroom. If we continue to use OG at the elementary level, then the Middle School teachers must be sufficiently trained in OG to understand and build on that skill set for the students at the middle school. Teachers that I have seemed to me to be proficient and comfortable with the Wilson Method have told me that it took a full year of training and additional time for practice to get to their level of proficiency.
This significant investment of time and money in training should not deter us from implementing a consistent, effective K-8 reading system to benefit our students.
From the Wilson Website:
The Wilson Reading System is designed for use with individuals who have difficulty with written language in the areas of decoding and spelling. The program is generally taught to students beginning with the upper elementary grades, through adult. Many students who benefit from WRS have deficiencies in phonologic awareness and/or orthographic processing which makes it challenging to learn to read and spell without an explicit, systematic, and multisensory approach. The Wilson Reading System specifically addresses the learning style of students with a language based learning disability; however, it is beneficial to any student lacking basic reading and spelling skills. It is appropriate for students with beginning literacy skills through grade six level skills if the student has not mastered the decoding and spelling process.
From the Stevenson website:
The Stevenson Program can be implemented in many ways, but it is most commonly used as an intervention for students who are having difficulty with reading and spelling.
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