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Story posted May 26, 2011

Every year the American School Board Journal (with the National School Boards Association and Sodexo) features Magna Awards to recognize excellent school district leadership. The following district is a 2011 winner.

Results:

• During each of the two years the program, 98 percent of the attendees in the pre-K through second grade program showed improvement on assessments.
• In letter-sound fluency, there has been a 17 percent increase in first-grade scores over the two years.
• Second-graders who have been in the program for only one year have made a 5 percent gain in reading comprehension.

A significant number of Valley Stream 30 students were entering third grade reading below grade level. The intensive allocation of resources needed to remediate older students meant fewer resources could be spent on other programs. The district wanted to break a cycle of putting so much effort into helping children catch up rather than in helping them excel. Also, demographics were changing. An increasing number of new students did not speak English. District leaders knew they needed to strategically address these students’ needs early on or else the learning gap would be even harder to close.

SOLUTION

Valley Stream 30 put together an early intervention literacy program that combines identification of students, learning materials, and progress monitoring. A screening administered to all rising kindergartners in the spring identifies those who lack phonemic awareness, a key indicator of potential reading difficulty. These students then attend a six-week summer school program that uses a curriculum designed to help distinguish and segment sounds. During the school year, summer school students receive a double dose of literacy instruction from a reading support staff member. Classroom and reading teachers meet with building administrators each time data is collected to determine if the current intervention is helping meet that month’s goal. Parents receive instruction in how to support their child’s literacy during both the summer and the school year.

THE BOARD’S INVOLVEMENT

The school board asked new Superintendent Elaine Kanas to examine the overall curriculum program. Her analysis identified the early-learning gap and spurred the development of this program. The board developed a budget with the additional funds necessary to add a prekindergarten program to the summer school. It decreased the teacher student ratio in the kindergarten and first grade summer school classes to ensure more student support. To garner community support, the board has devoted a start-of-the school- year work session to a summer school report. It also has scheduled public reports at two or more meetings during the year regarding the progress of primary students. The board supported professional development for classroom and reading teachers so they had different strategies to use when a change of approach was needed.

RESULTS

Preliminary results after the second year of the program look promising. During each of the two years the program has been in operation, 98 percent of the children who attended the summer school program in pre-K through second grade showed improvement on assessments. In letter-sound fluency, there has been a 17 percent increase in first-grade scores over the two years. Second-graders who have been in the program for only one year have made a 5 percent gain in reading comprehension.

FOR MORE INORMATION

Contact Superintendent Elaine Kanas at ekanas@vs30.org. The district’s website is at www.valleystream30.com.

This story was originally featured as a NSBA 2011 Magna Awards publication—a supplement to the American School Journal. For more information and to see other winners, visit www.asbj.com/magna.

Story reposted with permission.