South Dakota teacher involves parents, media, and entire community in Renaissance success
Scott Phares, fifth-grade teacher at Pinedale Elementary School and the 2002–2003 Teacher of the Year in Rapids City, S.D., has been working hard over the past 13 years—both in the classroom and with the community—so that his students can experience academic success, and one of the key tools he uses to prompt success is Reading Renaissance.
Though he’s been using Accelerated Reader (AR) for seven years, he began using Reading Renaissance just two years ago, which is made a remarkable difference in his classroom.
“I think it’s crucial that you use the Renaissance techniques, otherwise students would be working at the wrong levels and not experiencing success,” says Phares. “Reading Renaissance enables students to read mass quantities of books, and it allows me to hold them accountable for what they’ve read. It lets me have a management system.”
The success Phares has experienced has spread into the community as well, which is best illustrated in the district’s end-of-the-year Reading Hall of Fame banquet to congratulate top readers at each school.
The event is sponsored by area businesses, and the high school jazz band provides entertainment. Local newspapers and a television crew are on hand to spread the word. Children are awarded T-shirts and medals, and their picture is posted on billboards around the city and in local businesses-the caption to the picture reads “Have you read to your child today?” The goal here, explains Phares, is to increase parents’ involvement in their children’s reading.
“Since using Renaissance’s certification system to qualify students to make the Reading Hall of Fame Library, circulation has increased by about 50 percent for fifth graders and books on the Honor Book List are now in high demand,” says Phares.
Though Renaissance isn’t citywide in Rapids City, it’s close. The public library even has lists of AR quizzes for each participating school, so librarians can help children choose a book to quiz on. Nevertheless, Phares isn’t satisfied-he at least wants to see it implemented in every fifth grade throughout the city.
“Finding the time for students to read enough is important, and if you do that, every student will have success with Renaissance,” says Phares.
Parental and community involvement in AR program puts spotlight on importance of reading
Susan West has been teaching kindergarten at Wetumpka Elementary School, Wetumpka, Ala., for 25 of the 26 total years she’s been in education, so it would be a safe bet to say she knows her way around the classroom. And one thing is for sure in West’s mind, Reading Renaissance works, and it works well.
“I’ve always felt that there needed to be a program that would allow the teachers to give students the time they need to read, and the time we need to read to the students,” says West.
“Our goal is to create lifetime readers, and with Reading Renaissance we’re on the right track.”
One of the ways Reading Renaissance has helped students improve their reading skills, says West, is by helping them get at least 60 minutes of reading time each day. And one of the best ways to become a better reader, says West, is to practice, and practice a lot.
“At Wetumpka Elementary, we participate in D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) time,” say West. “From 8:10 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. everyone in the school drops what they’re doing and reads. It’s a fun way to show the students the importance of reading. This helps ensure that everyone gets at least 60 minutes of reading a day.”
Another way to ensure that her young students receive enough reading time (kindergarten students are mostly read to), is by using parent volunteers.
“I read a book to the class, and then we have parent volunteers come in who will come in and read books to the children,” says West. “Having the volunteers really helps me out, they give me an extra pair of hands, and another person to help read tests. Every class has at least one parent volunteer. ”
The parents also helps the students keep their logs up to date with the title and author of the books they’ve read, and the students’ AR quiz scores, says West.
Parental and community involvement in the Reading Renaissance program has really taken off over the past few years, says West.
“We have a parent volunteer that went over to the public library and took the time to identify all of the AR books at the public library,” says West. “That was really neat, because it’s representative of the way the community is willing to work with us. Now, parents or students can go to the library and check out an AR book any time they want.
“It’s a real neat partnership to be able to have with the library,” West continues. “It works out great for the parents who want to give their children extra reading material, but might not have it at home.”
Both students and parents excel with AR in New York school district
Located in a high-poverty, high-crime area of Rochester, N.Y., both parents and students at Enrico Fermi School No. 17 have been presented with a unique and education-rich opportunity. Bonnie J. Shirley, instructional support teacher at Enrico Fermi School No. 17, has been active in a community-involvement Accelerated Reader (AR) program designed to help educate parents of students enrolled at the school.
“Along with our parent organization and Unity Health, we are forming an AR literacy program for our parents,” says Shirley. “Our goal is to improve the parents’ reading abilities, encourage them to study for their GED, and make them better candidates for the job market.”
The idea for the program was put into action after students at the school experienced “tremendous” success with AR, which in turn has gotten the parents more involved in their children’s education.
Enrico Fermi School No. 17, current enrollment of 700, has students in pre-kindergarten through grade five. The school has a poverty rate of over 98 percent among the student body. As a matter of fact, Shirley says, the entire staff at Enrico Fermi School No. 17 has some “major educational challenges” to contend with.
“The school is located in a neighborhood characterized by a high crime rate, high rates of teenage pregnancies, infant mortality, lead poisoning, substance abuse, and single-parent families, and a high dropout rate,” says Shirley.
On the bright side, however, since the districtwide implementation of AR, reading performance has burst with success and library circulation numbers have climbed significantly.
“During the AR implementation year our library circulation doubled,” explains Shirley, “In every succeeding year, our library circulation has more than tripled.”
According to Shirley, since starting with AR, student comprehension, listening, and inferential skills have all increased. In addition, during the 2001–2002 school year twice as many fourth-graders passed the state English Language Arts exam as compared to the previous year.
“The students love AR,” says Shirley. “They have developed greater self-confidence in their reading ability and in themselves.”
Pennsylvania Duolog Reading volunteers help ESL students
When Principal Ollie Jones joined the staff of Carter and MacRae Elementary School in Lancaster, Pa., in the fall of 2000, she faced a challenge: almost 90 percent of her student body qualified for free or reduced lunch and many students were learning English as a second language. The school was also accommodating students from local homeless shelters.
Jones was committed to helping her staff build their students’ academic skills and self-esteem.
“The results of a school climate survey I took at the time showed that reading had to be a priority in our school,” says Jones. “I’d seen Reading Renaissance do wonders in the school where I’d worked as principal before, so I began to take steps to build implementation in Carter and MacRae.”
In summer 2001, all the staff of Carter and MacRae attended an on-site 601: Advanced Reading Renaissance seminar. As part of her mission to turn her school around, Jones decided to “involve the uninvolved,” by inviting members from a nearby retirement community to also attend the two-day training. “Some of the retirees had already been volunteering at our school and I knew there was a lot of interest in helping our kids.”
The response was overwhelming—more than 60 volunteers received training in Duolog Reading. “They were so ready to contribute and the training gave them a feeling of empowerment,” says Jones. “I can’t begin to tell you what a difference the volunteers have made in the success of our reading program.”
Duolog Reading is a structured, yet flexible paired-reading technique, in which a tutor reads aloud with a student, monitoring and correcting him or her until they feel able to read on their own. It is designed for use by both teachers and nonteachers. Once trained, parents, students, and other volunteers can take on the role of tutor.
All students have 60 minutes of reading practice daily, broken into four segments of 15 minutes each. “We found that to be a manageable way to fit in the full 60 minutes,” continues Jones. “For these students, reading at home is not always possible. That’s why our Duolog Reading volunteers have been so incredibly helpful.”
These days, Jones walks down the halls of Carter and MacRae and hears students talking about books. “It’s so much fun—we’re seeing improvements in all areas.”