Students at Highland get reading help through new tutoring program – Salem Reporter:
Highland is the first Salem elementary school to get an intensive reading tutoring program that’s been helping kids in the Portland area for 25 years.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Portland reading scores are abysmal. Salem scores are roughly 10 points lower. We can suppose then that programs like this might help. If we grant that’s a reasonable assumption, though, then it’s taken Salem-Keizer 25 years to even try it.
It comes as the school of about 280 students is undergoing a major experiment, partnering with an outside philanthropist, community groups and parents that’s intended to turn the school into a community hub where families and students can get help to thrive.
This had to be pushed into the educational process by the outside. That’s damning as well.
One aim is to boost the share of students who can read at grade level. Last spring, one in four of the school’s third graders were on track, according to state assessments.
That’s about the average for the Salem-Keizer School District, which trails state averages and Portland Public Schools.
25% of third graders read at grade level in arguably the most socio-economically challenged elementary school in the district, and that’s “about the average” for Salem-Keizer. Good lord.
Students in the program typically make about a year and a half of progress in their reading skills over the course of a school year, helping them catch up.
Thirty-two Highland students in first through fourth grade get half-hour sessions with their tutor three times weekly. Two students meet with each tutor.
That is good progress. Only thing I’d add is an end to social promotion. If you don’t read at grade level, you don’t go to the next one.