Jackson schools focus on literacy in upper grades

In elementary school, students receive up to 90 minutes of reading instruction, not counting additional time devoted for writing or grammar. By middle school, however, those subjects are generally crammed into one 50-minute block.

For struggling readers, this is not enough, educators say, especially with No Child Left Behind's mandates and focus on reading skills.

Those already below grade level continue to falter as material becomes harder, said Christa Millham, assistant principal at Jackson Middle School.

"As the work gets more difficult, they get further and further behind every year," she said.

Compounding the problem is the resulting rise in frustration levels as books become too hard, but students, struggling to fit in or act mature, don't want to read "baby" picture books.

Nationally, test scores are slowly improving in reading among fourth-graders but remain stagnant for eighth-graders. In Missouri, reading scores among eighth-graders were the same in 2007 as they were in 1998 on the NAEP, or National Assessment of Education Progress.

Jackson Middle School is trying a three-pronged approach to address those issues. First, the school has implemented a professional development program for teachers called the Missouri Reading Initiative. Additionally, high-interest but lower-level books have been purchased. And selected students are doubling their reading time by participating in a Guided Study in Reading class.

Dr. Rebecca Haseltine, director of the Missouri Reading Initiative, said that in the 1990s there was an emphasis on improvements in literacy for students in grades kindergarten to third grade, but that is changing.

"There used to be a belief that in the early grades that's where students learn to read, and in the upper grades that's where they read to learn. But if their reading level and writing level are flagging, that affects all other areas," she said.

With higher accountability required by the state and federal government, she said her office is hearing a lot more from intermediate, middle and even high schools. "Teachers at that level don't feel they are adequately prepared to teach literacy because they are more content-focused," Haseltine said.

For three years, a trainer suggests strategies, models lessons and observes, based on the premise that staff development should be long term and ongoing. This year, a trainer will spend 22 days at the middle school and junior high in Jackson.

While the program is supported partly by the state, schools pay a fee for services. Jackson Middle School has also chosen to direct funds to purchase new books to match students' reading levels.

Teachers can check out books on the same subject, such as tornadoes, that are written at different levels. "If they look similar, most kids don't pick up that's it's different material. We don't want someone to make fun of someone else," Millham said.

The books have lots of color, suit a middle schooler's interests and feature "graphic novels," a sophisticated comic book.

The approach has changed student Austin Wilson's view of reading. "I'd rather do math or something like that," he said. But, the 12-year-old said, "I'm reading more now because I found out I like reading history."

Wilson participates in the Guided Study in Reading Program. Instead of attending an elective class, students identified as needing a boost are placed in groups of eight for an additional reading block. About 110 students, or 15 percent of the school population, are participating.

Because students are missing activities like band or choir, teachers are doing everything they can to make the class fun or alter a student's attitude toward reading.

The class has no homework, and no grade is assigned. Once a week, students perform a "reader's theater," where they become book characters and perform scenes.

On Friday, they walked to Orchard Drive Elementary to read to their younger peers.

"It's great for the first-graders seeing older students modeling a book, and it's great for the older students to strengthen their reading skills," said first-grade teacher Stacie Dotson.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123