Reading program, interventions help bring along struggling students

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, May 18, 2009 | by Kristofer Noceda

SAN LORENZO -- Seven-year-old Keyahn Paschal puts on a pair of headphones and focuses on a computer monitor, eyes wide and smile intact.

She takes her tiny right hand and places it on a computer mouse, dragging the cursor over words on the screen and clicking the mouse on each word she reads aloud. After reading the passage, a series of pictures pops up on the monitor. Keyahn, a second-grader at Bay Elementary School, must choose which of the pictures best matches the passage that she read. After selecting the correct picture, her legs kick to and fro beneath her seat in excitement.

The computer program, called Headsprout, will record Keyahn's progress. In turn, teachers will be able to view results and see if the she needs to improve in any other academic areas.

With increasing pressure from the state for educators to get students up to proficiency in high-stakes testing, educators are increasingly falling back on intervention programs to help struggling students meet state and federal bench marks. Educators in the San Lorenzo Unified School District, for example, begin analyzing students as early as kindergarten, said Barbara DeBarger, director of elementary education for the district. At that grade level, teachers can begin to see any dramatic reading discrepancies in their kindergarten students by January, DeBarger said.

In addition to teachers recommending which of their students may need more time to develop their reading skills, the district tests all students in September, January and May. Test results reveal which students should be placed in intervention programs, based on their specific needs. Some students may need work on phonics, while others may need to refine their reading comprehension skills. An example of how teachers periodically assess students is a test that gauges how many words per minute a student can read. At this point in the school year, a second-grader should be able to read at least 100 words a minute, said Amy Capurro, a school psychologist and district intervention coordinator.

"If a student reads less than 75 words per minute, that student would be considered for intensive intervention," she said.

Students who fail to meet testing bench marks are pulled for a daily 45-minute block to work on improving areas in which they struggle.

That's where the Headsprout program comes in. A computer-based reading program that helps assess students' reading comprehension, Headsprout is one of the new strategies being implemented in San Lorenzo schools. Bay Elementary and Del Rey Elementary were the first campuses to pilot the program last school year. Lorenzo Manor, Hesperian, Dayton and Corvallis elementary schools also jumped on board this school year. Next school year, all elementary schools in the district will have the program in place.

"We are seeing some substantial growth in student literacy," said DeBarger, referring to how the Headsprout program has helped students when combined with other intervention strategies.

This year, Capurro has seen 11 students dramatically improve their skills and exit her second- and third-grade intervention program at Bay Elementary. She began the year with about 25 students.

Headsprout is usually combined with a one-on-one review in which students must read a book aloud to an educator, who in turn looks for any mistakes. "We don't want any student to fall through the cracks," said Diana Tavares, principal of Bay Elementary. "It's our responsibility as educators to help these students be successful in their academic careers and future."

The district's intervention programs appear to be working in achieving that goal. Merthese Blanton, a 7-year-old second-grader at Bay Elementary, said she enjoys the computer program.

"I like it because it helps me read," she said. "My dad is so happy because I'm learning how to read better."