Blanchard Elementary reading program at front line to improve performance

"Sam -- is -- mad!"

Jacob Lutes loves explanation points. He understands they mean business! Jacob sounds out the words, deliberately at first but he's picking up speed. And when the exclamation points show up, his little voice rises with full inflection. "I -- am -- mad!" His eyes fixed on the big script and colorful pages of his book, Jacob reads.

At 5, he's a few months into his kindergarten experience and a few weeks into a pilot reading program at Blanchard Elementary School that is getting rave reviews and, more important, results. On a recent Thursday morning in the school's library, with the help of Cape Girardeau community member Nancy Bray, Jacob read every word of book No. 15 in a series of 50 books designed to teach kindergartners to not just read but read beyond their grade level.

The intensive "Read to Succeed" sessions, 30 minutes a day four days a week, are led by community volunteers like Bray. This year, 18 Blanchard kindergarten students were tapped for the program.

For Blanchard -- designated a school in need of improvement for failing to hit No Child Left Behind targets -- and for the Cape Girardeau School District at large, "Read to Succeed" is the front line of the battle to improve academic performance.

Barbara Blanchard works with Allanah Long, 6, during a Nov. 4 session of a reading program.

"If you can get it right these first few grades, that is their ticket to success," said Bray, a retired marketing professional and former high school teacher. "You can tell those children who did not have a strong reading background. It's now. It's critical."

The raw numbers

Reams of data back up Bray's contention, in particular a recent special report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation titled "Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters." The analysis found of the fourth-graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test in 2009, 68 percent were considered below proficient. The rate rose to 83 percent for children from low-income families. The study found 58 percent of white fourth-graders read below proficiency, while 84 percent of blacks and 83 percent of Hispanics tested below the standard.

"If current trends hold true, 6.6 million low-income children in the birth to age 8 group are at increased risk of failing to graduate from high school on time because they won't be able to meet NAEP's proficient reading level by the end of third grade," the foundation said.

Cape Girardeau's public elementary schools fared a bit better in adequate yearly progress. Through a complicated formula of confidence intervals and improvement quotients, 44.9 percent of all students at Jefferson Elementary School were considered either proficient or advanced in communication arts in 2010, a jump from 37 percent the previous year. The proficiency rate was 43.6 percent at Franklin Elementary, 60.4 percent at Blanchard, nearly 65 percent at followed by Clippard Elementary and 74.2 percent at Alma Schrader. The proficiency target for 2010 was 67.4 percent. Districtwide, 54.5 percent of students were considered proficient or advanced in communication arts, and 51 percent in mathematics.

The proficiency marks for most of the schools were considerably lower under the state's Annual Performance Reports, which don't include the same academic filters used to calculate adequate yearly progress.

While poverty is prevalent throughout much of the district, Franklin and Jefferson post the highest number of free and reduced lunch recipients, at 87 percent and 82 percent respectively, according to the district.

Community response

With public school resources stretched thin, community organizations are playing an increasing auxiliary role in education support, like in Blanchard's "Read to Succeed."

Joan Jones, a retired teacher, recently sat in the Blanchard cafeteria with three students on her lap, all eager to read -- for the most part.

"Do I hear Brandon? I want to hear you," Jones called to a little boy beginning to fade toward the end of the session.

"I'm getting tired," Brandon faintly answered.

Jones kept the kindergartners on task, and her young charges finished book No. 10 in the series, sounding out every word.

"You did yeoman's work today," reading program unofficial organizer Bekki Cook told Jones as the cafeteria quieted. As of later October, 45 volunteers served the program, and their time hasn't cost the district a dime.

"We need another dozen," Cook said. They'll need a lot more than that next semester. Encouraged by the success of the program, the plan is to expand and reach more readers in waiting.

Help from a neighbor

Blanchard's program is based on the Read Alliance system. Jackson School District educator Marsha Sander in 2008 immersed herself in the method in New York and brought it back to her Jackson classroom. Her quest for a new way to reach her students was born from frustration and, she said, a personal pledge she made as she neared the end of her teaching career.

"I was teaching third grade at the time, and it seemed like more and more students were coming to third grade not reading at the level they need to be" in order to take the Missouri Assessment Program test, Sander said. "When the children come into your room and they're reading below grade level, their shoulders are down, their heads are down, and they feel like they just can't do it."

She worked and tested and worked the method some more and, with the approval of Jackson school administrators, began teaching the method in her classes. Jackson was the first school district outside of New York to implement the program, Sander said.

It has worked, she said. The average proficiency gain among New York students is 1.3 grade levels, while Jackson's average is 1.6 years, Sander said. This year, 90 percent of second-graders were reading at grade level or higher.

"I want to replicate this as many times as I can," she said, her voice shaking with excitement. Sander has stepped out of grade-level teaching and, thanks to some federal funding, is directing Jackson's Read Alliance Program.

Hearing of Jackson's success, the United Way's GRACES Women's Council wanted to get in on the act.

"We saw miraculous improvement," Cook said. Sander helped Blanchard adapt the method to the school's needs and the rest is history. If the kudos from educators and volunteers are true, it may not be long before kindergarteners like Jacob Lutes are able to read that history. But it's going to take a community, they say, to get there.

"Anything extra that can be given to a child in the way of time and education, that is going to pay off for everybody in the community," Bray said.

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address

1829 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO