Be sure to allow for a little spilt milk!

Jayce and Phoenix doing some pre-assembly paper work

Monday April 20th the "I Can Read' Literacy Initiative with Franklin Elementary School and UC Merced Office of Student LIfe completed its first full semester. Kids in grades K-2 who were 1 to 2 years behind in school shared their improved reading skills via a "Reading Party," with their tutors. Some 18 children and tutors read variously from "One Fish Two Fish..." other Dr. Seuss rhymes, and favorite reading pieces. A diverse group of children and tutors were happy and excited to show their newly acquired reading skills. Several children began the semester without even knowing all the letters of the alphabet! A film crew from UC Merced was there taking photos and doing interviews with several tutors and leaders, including James and Cheryl, and Literacy Intern Natalie. The next steps include wrapping up assessment details, writing a summary report with findings, and preparing for the Fall semester, with Reading Education, Assessment, Development for Literacy Instruction for Everyone (READ for LIFE.) jhd

As we move toward Spring Semester closing assessments, just a reminder about SES and Disparities in Early Vocabulary Experience:

https://sites.google.com/site/shanahanpreschool/connecticut-early-literacy-presentation

Shanahan on Literacy: More on the Teaching with Books at the Students' Reading Levels

Shanahan on Literacy: More on the Teaching with Books at the Students' Reading Levels









Why "I Can Read" with UC Merced and Franklin Elementary uses research-based methods, one-on-one instruction related to the "5 Pillars" of literacy, and the Book Buddies format out of University of Virginia. JHD

Yesterday (Feb 9) we conducted spelling and vocabulary-level assessments to go along with our alphabet letter recognition and letter sound assessment earlier. Currently, with a need for some back up coverage and "now shows" we're able to mentor 25 children one-on-one effectively, using research-based methods in alignment with the Book Buddies Tutoring material. We have children who are ESL-ELL who don't know the entire alphabet, as well as many in the emergent, beginning, and transitional stages of learning to read.

California Stars Scores: Finding the Data

Recently I was asked how I got the data on the number of children "less than proficient" in an area in Merced. The questioner seemed to express incredulity that such a large number of students existed, or that somehow the description was inaccurate. In this post I will simply walk through the procedure I used to find the students below proficient at our project school Franklin. First, however, just a note on the literacy levels. Generally around 5% of students are "advanced." Next comes proficient, which averages about 25-30%. The lower levels effectively do not read at grade level. There are three less-than proficient reading levels: "basic," "below basic," and "far below basic." Factors often effecting students' reading levels include poverty, English as a Second or Third Language, single parent households, the kinds of elements included in "socio-economic status" and indicators like the number of students on "free and reduced lunch." These are not internal intelligence factors, they are external forces that make it difficult for a child to enter and progress in school with the same background experience, excitement, and joy for learning that many of their "peers" have who come from higher SES (socio-economic status) levels. Unfortunately this reading problem impacts society as a whole with about 30% less-than-literate, illiterate, or not able to read. Add to that another 30% who are a-literate-they simply don't read even though they are able, there remains nation wide a reading population of 40% or less. This reality first struck me in the church world, where I realized the context is so dependent on literacy (reading the scriptures, the hymnbook (or powerpoint), the bulletin, the newsletter, the annual report. Yet very few churches in my experience (middle class and upper class) allow for non-readers, or provide measures for people to learn reading as a healthy part of growing as a faithful follower. In Jewish culture, the Bar and Bat Mizpah are signs of adulthood, that include an extended examination on the Torah (Old Testament) a public oral reading of the text (In Hebrew) and an exegesis and application for life. Back in the day, people like Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and others in the synagogue new how to read and could have a kind of spiritual and practical independence as part of their interdependence with the larger community faith. For the secular world, lack of reading impacts things like elections, consumerism, contracts, economics, and more. Back to the California STARS tests. Standardized Testing And Reporting. I won't go into the discussion of validity and reliability or those who object to standardized tests because "my child doesn't test well." Most often these tests are used not for the sake of the individual child or family but for large group measurements and funding at either the local, state, or national level. Accurate reading assessments for the sake of remediation are frequently of the qualitative kind like the Qualitative Reading Inventory, or the Phonemic Awareness Language Survey. To find data on a specific school. Start with a web search to find the home page for the California STARS scores. I used "California STARS scores." I came up with this site: http://star.cde.ca.gov/. Next I chose the top date 2013- a link, and clicked on it. There are many choices that follow. One can read "about STAR," "program history and description," and so on. At the top of this page, there is the option "test results search." This begins the exploration of the county, the city, the particular school and the the grades tested. I chose Merced County, City of Merced, Merced Schools, Franklin, and finally all children (one can slice and dice the data based on a number of factors). The results appear on this web page: http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2013/ViewReport.aspx?ps=true&lstTestYear=2013&lstTestType=C&lstCounty=24&lstDistrict=65771-000&lstSchool=6025621&lstGroup=1&lstSubGroup=1 The data are for second grade, a total of 165 children (100%) tested. In comparison to schools in the south end of town, Franklin comes out pretty well. The results in chart form: % Advanced 23 % % Proficient 35 % -------------------------------- % Basic 23 % % Below Basic 16 % % Far Below Basic 4 % For the sake of helping "those who need us most" our Literacy Project "I Can Read" focuses on the lower 43%---basic, below basic, and far below basic. 43% of 165 children is 70.95, or 71 children. Now compare this to Alecia Reyes school: 96 2nd graders, where 68% are less-than proficient. 68% of 96 = 65 children. % Advanced 11 % % Proficient 21 % ---------------------------------- % Basic 31 % 31 % % Below Basic 21 % % Far Below Basic 16 % Franklin 2nd graders include 43% less than proficient, while Reyes includes 68% that are less than proficient. And so it goes. Matters of funding, charter schools, teacher to student ratio, after school programs, and more will be discussed in later blogs, salted with lots of experiences and testimonies of our 30 mentor-tutors (who are totally awesome) from UC Merced. JHDPHD