The area of need that I would like to try and fix at my high school is the lack of extended school day activities to help improve literacy for our struggling students. With our stagnant test results that our school has shown over the last few years on our state standardized tests, we need something in place to help our all of our struggling students reach proficient levels for graduation. There are programs already in our school day designed to improve reading skills. Read 180 program is used on our campus for our truly low level reading students, and we have time during the week, called SET time that is designed to give students time to make up work or get extra help in all educational classes. This research project that I am conducting is to see the benefits of extended school days can have on student achievement in literacy and what best practices teachers and administrators can do to make the extended school days successful for all their students. The first article that I researched is how many struggling elementary schools in Florida started extended school days and increased their school state ratings and improved their reading scores for all their students. When searching for articles for this paper on how I can fix my school’s area of need, I wanted to see if extended school days really show a benefit for improving reading and literacy skills. The first article I read was a report taken in Florida, where 100 of the lowest achieving elementary schools are being required to add extended hours to their day to improve the state reading test results. “After only a year with the extra hour, three-quarters of the schools saw improved reading scores on the state’s standardized test, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment... ... middle of paper ... ... new intervention has shown significant improvement in their students reading test results. These articles will help me go to my education leaders in my district and show them that it does work, what types of programs we can use that will show improvement, and staff development ideas that will improve the staff’s skill in literacy instruction. Works Cited Gewertz, C. (2014). Fla. Pushes Longer Day, More Reading in Some Schools. Education Week, (18). Rocha, E. (2007). Choosing More Time for Students: The what, why, and how of expanded learning. Center for National Progress. Retrieved from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/08/pdf/expanded_learning.pdf Slavin, R. E., Cheung, A., Groff, C., & Lake, C. (2008). Effective reading programs for middle and high schools: a best-evidence synthesis. (Report). Reading Research Quarterly, (3), 290.
Fountas, I., C., & Pinnel, G. S., (2009). When readers struggle: Teaching that works. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
This is a reading intervention classroom of six 3rd grade students ages 9-10. This intervention group focuses on phonics, fluency, and comprehension. The students were placed in this group based on the results of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency assessment. Students in this class lack basic decoding skills.
With such high numbers of adolescents falling below basic in reading, illiteracy is a battle that must be fought head on. The largest dilemma with the struggle is the number of variations that cause adolescents to become reluctant, unmotivated or struggling readers. Fortunately, a large number of strategies exist to encourage and strengthen readers of all ages, proving that adolescence is not a time to give up on faltering students. Rather, it is a time to evaluate and intervene in an effort to turn a reluctant reader into an avid one (or near enough). Ultimately, educators must learn to properly assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses (Curtis, 2009) and pair them with the proper intervention techniques. If one method does not work, countless others exist to take its place.
...ategies” that have been used and research shows how schools are impacted” (Ramsey, 2006, p.xv11).
...racy skills to function as adults, and we have a responsibility to our students to help them acquire those skills. We need to improve our weak characteristics of our campus and continue to use our strengths to develop new programs that will benefit our students’ abilities. If given the chance to improve my campus’s literacy programs, I would do whatever it took to make it a success and I would use multiple resources to find answers to questions that I could not answer. I would bring all these things together to make an after school literacy program a success.
Yan, W. & Lin, Q. (2004, February 24). The effect of Kindergarten program types and class size on early academic performance. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(7). Retrieved March 26, 2004 from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n7/.
America’s children have found increasing difficulty with school. The curriculum in schools is claiming to be harder in higher levels, but the lack of focus and direction in the younger grades has made for decreased grade levels and lower mastery in several basic areas such as math, writing, and reading skills. Standardized test scores are at an all time low, as increasing amounts of children progress through the educational system having not at...
At least 40 million American adults need stronger literacy skills to take advantage of more lifelong learning opportunities (Knowles 12). Low literacy limits life chances, regardless of how it is defined or measured. According to The Random House Dictionary literacy is defined as “the quality or state of being literate, esp. the ability to read and write.” Another breakdown of the word, from the same source is “possession of education.” Basic skills and literacy abilities are widely viewed as necessities for lifelong learning and the development of success among individuals, families, communities, and even nations. Better knowledge about literacy is an essential condition for improving it. Helping children improve their literacy skills can help them develop the capacity for lifelong learning, keep pace with changing educational expectations and rapid technological change, and achieve their life goals. Today in society there are many adults with poor literacy skills who lack the foundation they need to find and keep decent jobs, to support their children’s education and help them mold a literate future. I have taken one small step towards this problem by tutoring at two schools. The more time people put towards helping the youth of America is the more literate our population can become. Every small action can help, even if it is just tutoring at local middle and junior high schools.
The program works with more than 100 schools in seven states. The program is geared toward students from low-income families. The statistics for children’s literacy in the United States are astonishing. “In 2011, just thirty-four percent of the nation’s fourth graders in public school could read proficiently” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). The program itself has had exponential success.
As stated in Ray’s article, “Americans Resist Idea of Four-Day School Week,” education experts agree a four-day school-week works in rural areas, but not in larger districts or urban areas (Ray). A four-day school-week seemed to work better in rural areas than in urban areas (Yarbrough and Gilman 82). Vice President of the Education Commission of the States, Kathy Christie, stated, “‘In rural areas requiring lengthy bus rides, the downsides probably are countered by savings. But in metropolitan areas, a four-day week raises the issues of child care’” (Chmelynski). A four-day week creates many problems in different
In the article: Effects of Small-Group Reading Instruction and Curriculum Differences for Students Most at Risk in Kindergarten by Debra Kamps, Mary Abbott, Charles Greenwood Howard Wills, Mary Veerkamp, and ,Jorun Kaufman they argue that the implementation of small group reading intervention done on the three-tier model of prevention and intervention were beneficial to students. The study was conducted using 83 at risk (reading failure) students during the winter of kindergarten. It was an evidence-based curriculum done in groups of one to six. They concluded that students in the small interven...
Literacy is the term used when talking about the ability to read and write. It leads to success in K-12 school, post-secondary school, the ability to compete in the job market, and participation in democratic process (Wei, Blackorby, & Schiller, 2011). Teaching young children how to read and write however is a very complex process that requires a teacher to employ a myriad of strategies to help students. When a teacher takes into consideration all the different abilities in a classroom having multiple strategies that help all students become proficient in speaking and listening, reading, and writing, is essential.
“If it’s a school day, during school hours, one-fifth of the total American population consists of public school students K through 12. One in five Americans. And if you count teachers and administrators you are probably going to get pretty close to one-quarter of the population of the county at nay given time on a weekday sitting in a public school building.” – (School, the story of American public education)
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
School should be four days a week with an extra hour added to each school day because it would save money for the school system, increase student motivation, stimulate the economy, and promote student achievement. There has been a decrease in education due to the small amount of resources, causing classrooms to be bigger and children not being able to extend their knowledge. Even though the economy has been falling, each school district has been working hard to promote student education, which could mean trading a traditional school schedule for a four-day school week. Replacing a normal school schedule for the four day school week can raise the school budget tremendously. (Hart, Demand Media).