Wincester — School officials in the Jefferson County North district are proud of their students, but not just for any old reason.
The district has experienced a dramatic turnaround in state assessment reading scores in grades one through six.
Getting a pointer, Justin Puhlman, 7, receives some special attention from Carroll Mair, a volunteer at Jefferson County North Elementary School, during a reading period. After implementing special reading programs, the district has experienced a dramatic turnaround in state assessment reading scores in grades one through six.
Four years ago, nearly two-thirds of the district's elementary-age students were reading below their grade level; fewer than one-quarter of them were reading at or above their grade level.
This year, 54 percent of the students scored above their grade level and 43 percent read at their grade level.
Supt. Scott Slava credits his teachers and staff.
"They were willing to make it happen for our kids," he said. "You have to find something that's going to work, become an expert at it and then teach it to the kids."
What produced these improvements? The first step was help from Kansas University in designing new reading programs that emphasize one-on-one instruction in first and second grades.
About five years ago, Diane Corcoran Nielsen, a KU education professor, created Kansas Accelerated Literacy Learning, which is now used in Lawrence, Olathe and other school districts. Once teachers develop their training, she said, they become better at teaching reading, and they learn how to adjust their skills for their students. She said teachers use phonics, reading comprehension and recognition to help students improve their reading skills.
"We know that good readers problem-solve. If you don't know a word, you've got to figure it out," she said. "From the beginning, we teach kids how to figure out words."
Secondly, after a year of research, a guided reading approach developed by elementary principal Randy Josserand and his staff was implemented.
Students are divided into three groups, in which they rotate from working in small groups with teachers, using reading computer software, to a learning lab outside of the classroom, where they use hands-on techniques.
Lab teacher Shawna Deviney praised the new program and its outcome. She has taught at JCN for 10 years, and used to see students reading at levels across the board in a "traditional" classroom.
"Before, you had some kids who were bored and others who were struggling," she said. "What I like about this is they're all reading at their own grade level. They feel good about themselves because they can read."
Time, money
The first year the district ran out of money to pay for staff development. Josserand said staff stayed after school without pay to learn the new programs.
"That's how dedicated our staff is to our kids," he said.
A few teachers did leave because the change was too much, but Josserand insisted that meeting the challenge to eliminate the district's reading problems was possible.
"I had a lot of faith in the program and what we were doing," he said. "I believed in our staff and the personal sacrifices they had to make to do this."
Now, the district has 10 paid days for staff development per year, and teachers are paid extra to work before and after school with individual students. The district's board allocated $120,000 to be spent over three years. Of that amount, $70,000 is grant money.
Based on test scores and students' abilities, Slava calls the programs a success story.
"If you look at the research, you make readers when they're younger. Well, our kids love to read," he said. "We're seeing some of them now creep up to the upper elementary level and they will continue to trickle up."
Slava said the staff is working on a plan to address reading concerns for middle school students.
"We believe we have to be proactive and not reactive," he said. "We try to stay out front."
High school plan
The curriculum changes didn't stop at the elementary level.
The district has restructured its class offerings and school-to-careers program during the past two years at Jefferson County North High School. The district developed internships and partnerships with area businesses, expanded dual-credit course offerings for college-bound students and started offering online classes.
Through the state's Greenbush Educational Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that assists Southeast Kansas in providing various educational opportunities, students are taking Latin, German, French, Spanish, interior design, aeronautics and oceanography this year.
"A school our size is not able to offer these classes," said Steve Mies, JCN High School principal. "But now, there's a world of opportunity out there for students to take different classes."
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