Larson students track own reading scores

Larson Elementary principal Karl Schleich's approach to continued success in Adequate Yearly Progress is focused on continued emphasis in reading in all aspects of grade-school instruction.

"It was really easy to do our AYP plan because we're basically continuing what we've been doing since the school opened," Schleich said.

Larson involves teachers, parents and students in a schoolwide fluency assessment to help increase reading skills and interest. During assessment days, students meet one-on-one with parent volunteers who listen to each student read a particular passage while keeping track of the number of words the student reads correctly. Formal assessment starts in third grade and each student is tested three times a year. To help the students understand the assessment, each student keeps track of his or her assessment scores in a student portfolio. Schleich said this helps students take control of their own education.

"When they see the scores go up, they are motivated to do even better," Schleich said.

And the focus on reading fluency seems to be working; scores in other assessments, such as benchmark exams and the TerraNova, have risen in conjunction with the fluency assessment scores.

"At Larson, our children are achieving higher as a group than when we first opened up," Schleich said. Larson opened its doors three years ago.

And for the students whose scores aren't rising? Larson has implemented an intervention program that places volunteers with students who need extra tutoring in reading. Students participate in a neurological impression method of reading, which requires the student to see, hear and speak a word at the same time. Each student spends 15 minutes a day reading passages out loud with a volunteer, a method that Schleich says helps the student to not only better their reading skills, but also allows the student to boost their self-image through positive, one-on-one feedback. The school also provides training sessions for parents to learn how to help their children succeed in reading. Reading fluency volunteer coordinator Ley Schleich says that making sure all of the students succeed in reading is key in a child's success in school, and in life.

"Our kids come to us with different packages made up of gifts and abilities," Ley Schleich said. "Reading is so fundamental to all of those, that's what makes this so important."

To be in agreement with the district's request for a measurable AYP plan, the principal has set a goal of rising the schools AYP proficiency ratings by 2 percent next year. The school met AYP this year, with scores of 80 percent proficiency in language arts and 67 percent proficiency in mathematics. While Schleich said he expects his student's scores to continue to rise to the occasion, he also stressed that allowing his teachers more time for learning and group planning outside the classroom would allow the students to become even more successful in school.

"Sometimes I think our policy makers at the federal and state levels really want to improve skill levels [of students], but forget that allowing teachers to improve their skill levels would help to that," he said.

Either way, Schleich said that he believes the focus on reading and parent involvement will continue to add to the success of Larson's students. The school is doing well, he added, but that is no reason to sit back and bask in meeting AYP.

"Our performance is about where No Child Left Behind wants us to be in 2008," Schleich said. "We're ahead of the game, but we don't want to move backwards."