Columbus-Area Grade School Gets Kudos

For Great Job Teaching Reading to ELL Kids

 

            Hats off to Sunrise Elementary School in the Lakeview Community School District east of Columbus, Neb. It was recently recognized by SRA/McGraw-Hill for the outstanding job it is doing teaching reading to low-income English Language Learners:

 

https://www.sraonline.com/download/DI/EfficacyReports/Sunrise_DI_FNL.pdf

 

            Ninety percent of the students quality for free- or reduced-lunch pricing because of low family income. Of the 70% of the student body who are Hispanic, 66% are non-English speaking to the point at which they receive free school services to help them up to speed. The term used is "English Language Learners."

 

            One year after switching to Open Court, the phonics-only reading instruction method from SRA/McGraw Hill, fourth-grade reading test scores at Sunrise School topped all low-income schools in Nebraska who have received Reading First federal grants, aimed at helping low-income, non-English speaking children with their reading skills. In that year, the percentage of fourth-graders whose reading skills tested as "proficient" or "advanced" rose from 75% to 82%, as measured by standardized tests.

 

            School officials said the secret was the coordinated reading program from the Open Court curriculum, teamwork among all the teachers, and designing a three-hour block of time each day specifically for Language Arts. (March 2008)