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Reading scores jump

Principal credits Read aloud as part of solution at North Jefferson Elementary

KEARNEYSVILLE, Jan. 7, 2012 -- After two years of alarming drops in both reading and math scores, students at North Jefferson Elementary School in Kearneysville have made the most progress in the school’s history, says Principal Mary Ann Jenkins. She credits its dynamic Read Aloud program for part of that success.

Today, the school has trained readers in each of its 15 classrooms. Readers are parents, members of the Coast Guard and librarians from the Shepherdstown Library. Both students and teachers look forward to their weekly read aloud sessions.
Two years ago, it wasn’t that way.

The Read Aloud program in Jefferson County, which had been strong in the past, had dwindled. As a school with enough low-income students to qualify for extra federal funding, North Jefferson always emphasized reading instruction. Yet, scores were dropping. Students did not make its Adequate Yearly Progress, a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act, for two years.

“We were devastated,” Jenkins said. “We are a Title 1 school. We stress reading. ‘What is going on? we asked.”

They took a hard look at their situation. They could have made excuses. One year 68 of the school’s 240 students left during the school year.
“It is difficult to try to teach children who are running like that,” Jenkins said.

Instead, they made a plan.

Jenkins had attended a principals’ meeting where Mary Kay Bond, director of Read Aloud West Virginia, explained the importance of Read Aloud for children and ways the state Read Aloud organization can support schools. Jenkins decided to make reading aloud a priority. She asked Gigi Anderson to be the school’s Read Aloud coordinator. She invited Bond to come and train readers. She mandated that every class would have a reader every week for 30 minutes (15 in the pre-school classes.)
“Gigi is a great coordinator,” Jenkins said. “She arranges times for the teachers and volunteers. Mrs. Bond has given us ongoing support. Remember, we are the only ones doing Read aloud here.”

Four readers were recruited from the Coast Guard, which also serves as a business partner for North Jefferson. “They are from the computer branch of the Coast Guard. These are the ‘tech’ guys,” Jenkins explained.

They added other initiatives, too, such as Tiered Reading, in which specialists work one on one with students who need it. They began asking parents to sign a pact that they would have their children read 20 to 30 minutes each evening. They sponsor other creative, fun programs to stimulate a desire to read, as well.

In the second year of these efforts, students at North Jefferson Elementary scored 50 points higher on the WESTEST2, the biggest gain in the school’s history.
“And that is a lot,” Jenkins emphasized. Statistically, economically disadvantaged students tend to score lower and pull school averages down, she said. But not at North Jefferson!

“The disadvantaged students pulled us up. They pulled us up in both reading and math!” she exclaimed.