9486 in the collection
How Do You Spell Abuse of 3rd Graders? T-E-X-A-S
Third-grader Philip Shelley has struggled with his reading since first grade, so when teachers at May Elementary offered help from a specialist this school year, his mother readily accepted.
"They were just trying to make sure he didn't fall through the cracks," Valerie Shelley explained. "It's really more prevention for him at this point, but I was pleased that they were going to do it."
"I'd rather be proactive than the other way around."
Since the beginning of the academic year, local school district administrators, elementary school principals and reading teachers have been working to bring third-graders who are trailing behind up to grade level before the spring.
That's when they will be required, for the first time, to pass a state-mandated reading
test to advance to fourth grade.
District testing at the beginning of the year helped pinpoint which students would need extra help. Teachers then grouped students according to reading ability and developed lesson plans to hone in on skills they had not picked up.
They've also headed to campus earlier in the morning and stayed after school for extra tutoring — all in an effort to stave off massive failures on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the state's new testing program, which will be used for the first time this spring.
Based on results of TAKS field tests, as many as 42,000 third-graders, or 15 percent, could fail the new reading exam on the first try, according to the Texas Education Agency.
"I'm praying that (those statistics) don't apply to that degree to our kids," said Barbara Sanchez, a reading facilitator at Southside Heritage Elementary. "But, of course, you're dealing with an unknown as far as TAKS is concerned."
To help school districts prepare students, TEA has sent out reports that attempt to predict how students will perform on the more rigorous test. In Bexar County, one of every five third-graders is expected to fail the exam on the first try.
Based on their own literacy assessments at the beginning of the academic year, area administrators have predicted that 14 percent to 30 percent of their third-graders will have trouble passing the test because they lack critical reading skills such as comprehension or fluency.
Those predictions have changed, however, and will continue to change as students improve during the year.
Because students will have three opportunities to pass the test, predictions also don't indicate how many students will be retained — only those who face the prospect.
To earn a passing grade, students must be able to read several passages and answer correctly at least 20 of 36 questions about the texts.
Students who fail on the first attempt, March 4, are supposed to receive additional small-group instruction. Pupils who fail a second time, April 30, will receive further tutoring, and those failing the third exam, July 8, are to be retained. Parents may appeal the decision.
"We don't want to panic, and we don't want to panic the kids, either," said Eleanor Elder, executive director for elementary instruction at Northside School District. "We just want to be kind of thoughtful and methodical about
(our approach to the test)."
To get the majority of their students to pass the first time, many officials have hired extra reading teachers, sought more opportunities during the school day for reading and enhanced parent outreach programs.
Southside School District administrators created a monthly family night, dubbed "Operation Homeport," in which parents of lagging students are taught how to develop their children's reading at home.
On a Thursday night this fall, nine families gathered in Heritage Elementary's library to learn about goal setting, word games and how
physical activity helps children learn.
Gracie Sexton makes sure her third-grade son, Adam, reads 20 minutes a night. But because he continues to struggle, she brought him to Operation Homeport.
"I worry that even though he's worked hard throughout the year, and may bring home good grades, he might not pass the test," she said.
Ultimately, no educator can be certain about how his or her pupils will fare on the test.
"There's always fear of the unknown; that is always something that kind of catches your attention," said Debe Palmer, North East School District's program coordinator for language arts and reading. "But, I look around and see the wonderful things the teachers are doing, and I feel very confident."
— Bridget Gutierrez
Readers step it up before test
San Antionio Express News
Jan. 13, 2002
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=919367
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
