Almost one in four students in kindergarten through third grade at Shawano public schools are considered to be at-risk for meeting reading standards and are required to having a reading plan this fall, according to data announced Nov. 10 to the Shawano School District Student Success and Relationships Committee.
Brittney Firari, literacy coach for Hillcrest Primary School, said that data from initial testing mechanisms show 23% of the students show they need to improve to have adequate reading skills by third grade, the time experts say children must know how to read to function well in life. Out of 560 students tested, 130 have the reading plans.
The number is lower than what the district has seen in years past, but Firari said an accurate comparison can’t be made between this year and last, because the norms set by the state and federal governments have changed.
The statistics are not as bad in the lowest grades, with both 4-year-old and 5-year-old kindergarten having only 8% of students who require reading plans, while 14% of first-grade students are in that situation.
It’s the second grade that is most concerning with 40% of students labeled at-risk, according to Firari. In third grade at Olga Brener Intermediate School, 31% of students are at-risk.
Breaking down the data even further, Firari noted that 15 of the 130 students who are at-risk are brand new to the district. By gender, 60% of the students are male and 40% are female. About 21.5% of the students have attendance issues, while 36% have been diagnosed with some type of learning disability. Poverty is a factor, too, as 59.2% of at-risk students qualify for free and reduced meals.
The district tests students at the beginning of the year and again at the school year’s end in May, so there is hope that the numbers will be drastically different in six months, according to Firari. Students are tested individually by the teacher, which requires a substitute or someone else in the school to work with the rest of the class for a two-hour period.
“That’s kind of alarming,” Firari said. “What that tells me traditionally is that we have an issue with fluency, putting all of our skills together. That’s something that, as a team, we’re looking at.”
The schools are looking at what changes between first and second grades to see if there are interventions that can be done before then, according to Firari. She added that one thing that’s being done is more encouragement of reading at home instead of all the practice being done in the school.
“We purchased at-home decodable books,” Firari said. “Now, every student has a book bag that we’re intentionally sending the books that they see in school at home, as well. Hopefully, we can alleviate some of that at-home piece.”
First grade is a big transitional year, Firari said, putting all of their skills together. Many of the students can do the skills in isolation, but when it comes to seeing a bunch of words on a page, it can be intimidating.
“All we can do is keep practicing that and getting to that word recognition stage,” Firari said, noting that most of the reading is done with regular books and rarely done with computers and tablets.
On the flip side, Firari said about 28% of kindergarten through third grade students are in the advanced category, which means they’re reading above their grade level.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com