Return to main success search page

Improvements in reading achievement on the rise at Kentucky school

When library media specialist Norma Allen came on board at Elkhorn Elementary School in Frankfort, Ky., during the 2001–2002 school year, she was immediately involved in helping to set up the school’s Reading Renaissance program. Since then, Allen says she’s seen nothing but improvement in academic achievement, and positive attitudes toward reading.

“We’ve seen a change in attitude about reading here at Elkhorn,” says Allen. “It began as an opportunity to gather points, but now students are talking about the different authors they read and the different genres of literature they enjoy. We encourage them to make choices of what they like to read, not what they must read for points. All of this interest in reading has occurred because they’re reading more than they have ever done before.”

Allen’s role with Renaissance is to administer STAR tests to students, run reports based on the program use, and purchase additional tests and books for the library. She also collaborates with the teachers in giving monthly awards for AR reading.

According to Allen, the “reading success” of all the additional reading is showing in the numbers generated in several STAR reports.

“All of this reading is showing results with the STAR assessment,” says Allen. “Students made great leaps in their latest test done in March.”

“At the end of the previous school year, our students had taken approximately 4,000 AR tests, and at end of March, during this school year, students had already tested on over 10,000 books. I ran the ‘words read’ report and the students have currently read around 60,000 words this year.” 

There are currently two Renaissance-certified Model Classrooms at Elkhorn Elementary and an additional five classrooms are on the brink of reaching Model status, says Allen.

“Our kindergarten students are very excited about becoming Model classroom readers, and I refer to our second graders as ‘Greedy Readers,’ because they have devoured most of the titles available,” says Allen. “I can’t imagine how boring the role of the librarian would be without the fun and work of participating in the Renaissance program.

Renaissance leads to “formula for success” at California school

Third-grade teacher Barbara Moriearty considers herself  “a real curmudgeon and a skeptic,” and with more than 20 years in the classroom, she has seen a lot of education programs come and go at Bates Elementary School in Courtland, Calif.

That’s why she was surprised at her reaction when she attended the 501: Introduction to Reading Renaissance Seminar that her school organized for the entire staff in 2000. Principal Victoria Turk selected Reading Renaissance as one strategy to help teachers improve the students’ performance.

“Our principal is extraordinarily committed to Renaissance,” says Moriearty. “She has made it possible for teams of teachers to attend the last three national conferences. Personally, attending the conference was a major turning point for me. I wish everyone could experience it.”

Today, Reading Renaissance is implemented in all grades at Bates Elementary. Math Renaissance is also in place in the school’s sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade classrooms, as well as in the school’s After School program.

Bates Elementary School increased its Academic Performance Index (API) rating from 653 in 2001 to 689 in 2002. The API includes results from the SAT 9 norm-referenced assessment, and from the California Standards Test in English-Language Arts (CST ELA) of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.

The teachers at Bates Elementary School recently started using two new Renaissance programs, STAR Early Literacy and StandardsMaster assessment, which Moriearty says have been big contributors to rising test score.

“The data retrieved from STAR Early Literacy and StandardsMaster is crucial to helping align instruction to state standards,” says Moriearty.

Used in her second/third grade combination classroom, Moriearty says STAR Early Literacy and Power Lessons for Emergent Readers have been excellent tools for identifying students’ reading strengths and weaknesses. 

“I have seen enormous gains this year with STAR Early Literacy,” Moriearty says. “We began using the program last year; and it has forced us to take a serious look at what we were teaching. STAR Early Literacy has been very influential in my instruction and it continues to be. Monthly testing enables me to teach the skills students haven’t mastered. In addition, the Emergent Reader Power Lessons have been extremely helpful. Every lesson is geared to a STAR Early Literacy skill tested.”

In conclusion, says this self-proclaimed skeptic, “Reading Renaissance is the best thing that has ever happened to this school.”

Academic performance increases from 36 to 82.5 percent at or above grade level

At Valmead Basic School in Lenoir, N.C., 75 to 80 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and about 19 percent are classified as special education students, but that hasn’t stopped the school from racking up astounding gains in academic performance over the past seven years with the help of Reading and Math Renaissance.

According to Jennifer Greer, the media coordinator at Valmead Basic School for the past 11 years, it wasn’t long after the school implemented Accelerated Reader (AR) during the 1996–1997 school year that teachers started noticing dramatic improvements in student reading performance.

“AR began to make a difference immediately in the children’s excitement about reading,” Greer says. “They just love taking those AR quizzes, and they love the instant feedback, which lets them know immediately how much they have retained from the book.”

When the 1997–1998 school year began, just one year after AR was put into place, Valmead Basic School started its first year of AR in combination with Reading Renaissance.

End-of-grade scores in 1997 showed that 57 percent of the students were at or above grade level, while just one year before that only 36 percent of the students were at or above grade level. The school years following showed increases each year, and at the end of the 2001–2002 school year (following the first year of Accelerated Math implementation), 82.5 percent of the students were at or above grade level. In addition, in 2002 the school was honored as a North Carolina Exemplary School and a North Carolina School of Distinction.

“The magic of AR, to me, is the motivation it provides the children—not because of points and prizes, but because of the TOPS report and the opportunity it provides for conferencing with teachers,” says Greer. “It provides instant personalized instruction.”

Vast improvements were made in the school’s library circulation as well. Circulation statistics indicate that during the 1995–1996 school year (the year before AR was implemented) library circulation was 11,000, while in 2002, circulation rose to 37,011, and the total continues to rise today.

As a fourth-grade teacher at Bay Springs Elementary School in Bay Springs, Miss., Tibby Norman is only in her second year of teaching. This year is her first with Reading Renaissance.

“This sort of technology-based reading strategy wasn’t taught in college,” she says with a laugh. “I didn’t know much about it. But the outstanding results really demonstrate how effective the program is.”

For example, one of her students, a dyslexic child who started the year at a 2.3 Grade Equivalent (GE), is now reading at a 3.4 GE level.

Norman found Reading Renaissance to be user-friendly and easy to implement in the classroom.

“The staff professional development seminar I attended was very informative,” she says. “Our staff, especially our librarian, has been very supportive and helpful. I have a wealth of expertise to draw on anytime I have a question.”

Norman finds the Power Lessons to be especially useful.

“I can incorporate a Power Lesson that relates to any of the state benchmarks that I am teaching,” she says. Students can use a variety of Accelerated Reader (AR) books to work on the specific skills taught in every Power Lesson.

Typically Norman opens with the Power Lesson, followed by TWI–Reading To, With, and Independently.

“We work on the Power Lesson skills during TWI time, and then test on those books in a day or so,” she says.

She suggests keeping the Power Lesson as short as possible—ten minutes or less. Norman says that “a short Power Lesson maintains their interest and they still hold the concept of the lesson in mind when they start their reading.”

Another key part of her daily classroom routine is looking over Diagnostic Reports with the students.

“This is an ideal time to conference one-on-one with every child,” says Norman. “It’s a great way to stay in touch with every student and to make sure they are reading at the right level and understanding what they are reading. Students also love the TOPS Report, which provides immediate feedback to students and teachers alike.”

Norman indicates the best part, however, is that Reading Renaissance builds a passion for reading in almost every student, regardless of skill level.

“Students are truly motivated by Reading Renaissance,” says Norman. “They work at their own pace and are not compared to any other children. And when they are motivated, it motivates me even more.”

At-risk students decrease by over 40 percent at Oregon school

At Oregon’s Conger Elementary School, Principal Leigh Ann Arthur says that the use of Reading and Math Renaissance played a significant part in her school’s drop in at-risk students and rise on the Oregon State Assessment in reading and literature.

During the 1999–2000 school year, 72.4 percent of the student population at Conger was classified as at risk, as compared to only 32.2 percent in 2001–2002.

“The drop in at-risk students is right in line with gains in academic achievement,” says Arthur, “and the academic achievement is directly correlated with the school’s push of Renaissance.”

The “gains in academic achievement” refer to scores on the Oregon Statewide Assessment, which is administered to all third- and fifth-grade students at Conger in April. The percent of fifth-grade students at Conger meeting or exceeding the Oregon State Assessment benchmark was at 73 percent in 1999, while 90 percent of students met or exceeded the benchmark in 2002.

Involvement in the Renaissance program, says Arthur, also played a big role in winning the coveted National Title I Distinguished School Award at the spring 2002 International Reading Association Conference.

Conger Elementary implemented Renaissance programs and professional development with Title I funds beginning in 1998. “Renaissance had a lot to do with raising the school’s scores for the necessary three consecutive years,” says Arthur.

At-risk factors, according to Arthur, have not stopped the Conger staff from seeking success.

“Almost all of our third-grade students have met or exceeded benchmark scores on the Oregon State Assessment in reading,” says Arthur. “Math scores in third grade have also increased during the same period, and Conger students with disabilities scored significantly higher than the state averages in reading and math.”

Renaissance “revolutionizes” instruction for Master teacher in Tennessee

Susan Reeves, a Master-certified third-grade teacher at Dan Mills Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn., is a 14-year teaching veteran who says using Renaissance products “has completely revolutionized” the way she teaches.

“Looking back, I don’t know how I successfully taught reading and math without Renaissance. I think STAR, Accelerated Reading (AR) and Accelerated Math are indispensable tools in teaching and learning, and I would fight anyone who tries to take them away from me,” Reeves says. “I thoroughly enjoy teaching third grade as that is the year most children develop a love of reading, and I credit AR for helping that to happen.”

According to Reeves, she’s had “remarkable” success with both Math and Reading Renaissance programs for several years, and last year was no different. In just one year, third-grade scores at Dan Mills Elementary, from 2001 to 2002, showed a 26 percent increase in reading, and a 10 percent increase in math on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) achievement test, says Reeves.

“Using AR and Accelerated Math on a daily basis provides a lot of practice for the students and also allows me to have one-on-one instruction with each child,” says Reeves. “These programs help me to diagnose specific areas of difficulty and design a plan for intervention.”

Also during the 2001–2002 school year, the third-grade class Grade Equivalent (GE) increased by 1.6 over a nine-month period in math, and by 1.3 in reading over the same period of time. This year, she’s expecting the same kind of results.

“This year I have several children who are reading below grade level, but they are progressing remarkably well by using AR,” Reeves says. “I'm really anxious to see what happens this year as I'm expecting great growth.”

One of the major benefits of this program, says Reeves, is that students are able to succeed at all levels.

“The Renaissance programs really help low level students build confidence and an excitement about reading,” says Reeves. “At the other end of the spectrum, excellent readers are allowed to soar, they don’t feel tied down by having to read below their ability and/or interest.”

First grade team-teachers have the tools to transform non-readers into readers

Team teachers Francie Moseley and Kelly Oliver teach first grade used information from STAR Early Literacy to target reading instruction in their first-grade classroom of 32 students at Big Sandy School in Dallardsville, Texas. Moseley and Oliver attribute the growth in their students’ reading skills to their use of Reading Renaissance. In particular, they cite the data from STAR Early Literacy in helping them to target their reading instruction.

Moseley lists the benefits of STAR Early Literacy:

·       “Phonemic awareness and phonics is the primary emphasis with beginning readers,” says Moseley. “STAR Early Literacy quickly and accurately shows me what I must emphasize.”

·        Because STAR Early Literacy also measures vocabulary and comprehension skills, Moseley has found it helpful in matching books to students.

·       With the information from STAR Early Literacy reports, teachers can set up reading groups quickly and accurately.

·       “I simply pull up records, print them out, and am ready to meet with parents,” says Moseley.

·       “They love to sit down at the computer,” says Moseley.  “It’s almost like a game to them and they try their best to succeed.”

·       By identifying individual student needs, STAR Early Literacy helps educators target instruction.

At the end of the academic year, students had grown by more than 20 points in each of the seven literacy skills that STAR Early Literacy measures; 30 students had grown from emergent reader status to transitional or probable reader status, and Moseley and Oliver both earned Renaissance Master Educator in Reading certification.

Return to main success search page